Peoples Bancorp Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40 (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, July 22nd, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the bank on Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th.

Peoples Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 4.2% per year over the last three years. Peoples Bancorp has a payout ratio of 49.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Peoples Bancorp to earn $3.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.8%.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEBO opened at $30.80 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.30 and a 200 day moving average of $29.45. The company has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Peoples Bancorp has a 12-month low of $24.84 and a 12-month high of $34.85.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $154.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.30 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 12.89%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David F. Dierker sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.07, for a total transaction of $128,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,493.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,544 shares of company stock worth $146,329. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on PEBO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (down from $36.00) on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Peoples Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.00.

Peoples Bancorp Company 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.