Don't Ignore The Fact That This Insider Just Sold Some Shares In Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

We'd be surprised if Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) shareholders haven't noticed that the Vice Chairman of the Board, George Broughton, recently sold US$196k worth of stock at US$32.34 per share. However, the silver lining is that the sale only reduced their total holding by-4.4%, so we're hesitant to read anything much into it, on its own.

Check out our latest analysis for Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by George Broughton is the biggest insider sale of Peoples Bancorp shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$31.29. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 431 shares for US$14k. But they sold 36918 for US$1.2m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Peoples Bancorp shares, than buying. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Insider Ownership of Peoples Bancorp

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Peoples Bancorp insiders own 2.7% of the company, worth about US$17m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Peoples Bancorp Tell Us?

The stark truth for Peoples Bancorp is that there has been more insider selling than insider buying in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But since Peoples Bancorp is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Peoples Bancorp, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

But note: Peoples Bancorp may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.