Hantz Financial Services Inc. Reduces Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 4.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,194 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,520 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 26.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 586,015 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,580,000 after buying an additional 123,423 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management grew its position in Peoples Bancorp by 787.3% in the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 57,485 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 51,006 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the third quarter worth $1,244,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 158.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 57,631 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 35,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 262.6% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 40,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 29,479 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.50.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, Director David F. Dierker sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.36, for a total transaction of $30,360.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $313,618.80. This trade represents a 8.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director S Craig Beam sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total transaction of $137,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $815,205.60. This represents a 14.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,445 shares of company stock valued at $348,956 over the last ninety days. 3.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 0.4 %

PEBO opened at $35.08 on Monday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.74. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.74 and a 52 week high of $37.07.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 20.16%. The firm had revenue of $158.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $112.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.06 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 45.58%.

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.