Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Invests $454,000 in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 14,336 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $454,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEBO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,002,366 shares of the bank's stock worth $63,455,000 after buying an additional 35,358 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 854,238 shares of the bank's stock valued at $27,077,000 after purchasing an additional 3,584 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 758,215 shares of the bank's stock worth $24,028,000 after purchasing an additional 79,818 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Bank OH increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 590,905 shares of the bank's stock worth $18,726,000 after purchasing an additional 6,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 451,788 shares of the bank's stock worth $14,317,000 after buying an additional 99,300 shares in the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEBO has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens dropped their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 0.4 %

PEBO traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.53. The company had a trading volume of 37,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 133,022. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 0.62. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.21 and a 52 week high of $37.07.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.04). Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 18.90%. The business had revenue of $113.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $112.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.55%. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $30,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,686 shares in the company, valued at $775,717.20. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.