Arizona State Retirement System Has $327,000 Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,304 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 6.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 37,200 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,119,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 136,348 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,103,000 after acquiring an additional 6,834 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 34.6% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 57,078 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,717,000 after purchasing an additional 14,658 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 808.2% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 27,754 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $835,000 after purchasing an additional 24,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $1,244,000. 60.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on PEBO shares. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $37.50 price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Peoples Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.90.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $29.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.07. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.03 and a 12 month high of $37.07. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00 and a beta of 0.75.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 18.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 48.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.83, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,686 shares in the company, valued at $876,101.38. The trade was a 3.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $94,050. Company insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Profile

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.