Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

PB has been the topic of several other research reports. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Prosperity Bancshares from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.50.

Prosperity Bancshares Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:PB opened at $71.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.94. Prosperity Bancshares has a 12 month low of $57.16 and a 12 month high of $86.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.21.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 forecast that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

Prosperity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Prosperity Bancshares news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.04, for a total transaction of $38,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 110,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,388,352.60. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 5,500 shares of company stock worth $418,095 over the last 90 days. 4.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,780,006 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $736,923,000 after acquiring an additional 44,567 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,586,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $345,575,000 after purchasing an additional 48,304 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,342,047 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $176,473,000 after purchasing an additional 32,917 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,708,509 shares of the bank’s stock worth $123,162,000 after buying an additional 15,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Snyder Capital Management L P boosted its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P now owns 1,220,977 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,001,000 after buying an additional 83,488 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.