Peoples Bancorp price target raised to $40 from $39 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler raised the firm’s price target on Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) to $40 from $39 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. Apart from elevated NCOs that should move lower going forward, Peoples Bancorp generated solid Q4 results with a 6% PPNR beat partially stemming from core net interest income upside aided by core net interest margin expansion, the firm says. Piper is encouraged by broad-based improvement across the company’s credit metrics coming out of Q4 and believes future asset quality will be less problematic.