Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.50.

PB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Prosperity Bancshares from $77.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $77.00 target price on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued a “peer perform” rating on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, December 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prosperity Bancshares

In other news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.44, for a total value of $40,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 113,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,269,093.60. This represents a 0.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Harrison Stafford II sold 4,000 shares of Prosperity Bancshares stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.07, for a total transaction of $320,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 107,137 shares in the company, valued at $8,578,459.59. The trade was a 3.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,080,364. Company insiders own 4.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Prosperity Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,287,615 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $262,141,000 after buying an additional 532,241 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares during the third quarter worth $16,478,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 3.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,359,165 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $388,799,000 after purchasing an additional 184,453 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 811,772 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $49,632,000 after purchasing an additional 112,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 418.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 111,548 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,039,000 after purchasing an additional 90,015 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Prosperity Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PB opened at $74.80 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $79.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.00. The company has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.93. Prosperity Bancshares has a 12-month low of $57.16 and a 12-month high of $86.75.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $459.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.83 million. Prosperity Bancshares had a return on equity of 6.46% and a net margin of 25.39%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prosperity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. This is a boost from Prosperity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.26%.

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.