StockNews.com Upgrades Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

PB has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Prosperity Bancshares from $77.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on Prosperity Bancshares from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prosperity Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.50.

Prosperity Bancshares Price Performance

NYSE:PB opened at $69.17 on Tuesday. Prosperity Bancshares has a 1-year low of $57.16 and a 1-year high of $86.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.29. The company has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.94.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.04. Prosperity Bancshares had a return on equity of 6.64% and a net margin of 26.79%. Equities analysts anticipate that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prosperity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prosperity Bancshares

In other Prosperity Bancshares news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.63, for a total transaction of $35,315.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 104,815 shares in the company, valued at $7,403,083.45. This trade represents a 0.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 5,500 shares of company stock worth $421,905 in the last quarter. 4.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prosperity Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 3.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,720 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 6,485 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 1,364 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Prosperity Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,804,000. Aigen Investment Management LP lifted its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 91.2% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 7,925 shares of the bank’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 3,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 23.7% during the third quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 5,828 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $420,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Prosperity Bancshares

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc operates as bank holding company for the Prosperity Bank that provides financial products and services to businesses and consumers. It accepts various deposit products, such as demand, savings, money market, and time accounts, as well as and certificates of deposit. The company also offers 1-4 family residential mortgage, commercial real estate and multifamily residential, commercial and industrial, agricultural, and non-real estate agricultural loans, as well as construction, land development, and other land loans; consumer loans, including automobile, recreational vehicle, boat, home improvement, personal, and deposit account collateralized loans; term loans and lines of credit; and consumer durables and home equity loans, as well as loans for working capital, business expansion, and purchase of equipment and machinery.