Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) Stock Unloaded Sen.

Key Points

• Senator (R-West Virginia) sold between $250,001 and $500,000 in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. on August 28th, as disclosed in a filing on October 10th.
• The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates, with revenue of $115.02 million, exceeding expectations.
• Peoples Bancorp recently declared a $0.41 per share quarterly dividend, with an annualized yield of 5.7% and a payout ratio of 56.16%.

Senator (R-West Virginia) recently sold shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. NASDAQ: PEBO. In a filing disclosed on October 10th, the Senator disclosed that they had sold between $250,001 and $500,000 in Peoples Bancorp stock on August 28th.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

PEBO stock traded down $1.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.64. 226,428 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 134,148. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.74. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.21 and a 12 month high of $37.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.81 and a beta of 0.63.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.18). Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 16.88%.The firm had revenue of $115.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.20 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. Peoples Bancorp's payout ratio is 56.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 926,866 shares of the bank's stock worth $28,309,000 after purchasing an additional 26,786 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 915,692 shares of the bank's stock worth $27,965,000 after purchasing an additional 60,921 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 612,568 shares of the bank's stock worth $18,708,000 after purchasing an additional 8,058 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 422.4% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 349,948 shares of the bank's stock worth $10,687,000 after purchasing an additional 282,960 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 294,790 shares of the bank's stock worth $9,003,000 after purchasing an additional 5,976 shares during the period. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PEBO. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded Peoples Bancorp from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Peoples Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.22, for a total value of $30,220.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 23,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $718,238.74. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dwight Eric Smith acquired 1,060 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $30.27 per share, for a total transaction of $32,086.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 6,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $211,859.73. The trade was a 17.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Senator

About Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp Inc operates as the holding company for Peoples Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. The company accepts various deposit products, including demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and governmental deposits; and provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, construction, finance, residential real estate, and consumer indirect and direct loans, as well as home equity lines of credit and overdrafts.

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