Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 10.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,664,951 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 200,167 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $51,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 30,789 shares of the bank’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 42.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 3.3% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,043 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.7% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,961 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David F. Dierker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.36, for a total value of $30,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $313,618.80. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Matthew Edgell sold 3,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.36, for a total transaction of $103,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,092 shares in the company, valued at $552,921.12. This represents a 15.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,445 shares of company stock valued at $424,166. 3.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Down 2.6 %

PEBO stock opened at $34.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average is $33.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.45. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.74 and a fifty-two week high of $37.07.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $158.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.30 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 20.16% and a return on equity of 11.84%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.06 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.70%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on PEBO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Piper Sandler lowered their target price 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.25.

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.