KBC Group NV Grows Position in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB)

KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) by 45.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,099 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Prosperity Bancshares were worth $309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PB. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 987 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 93.5% in the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 2,872 shares of the bank’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $237,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 102.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 592 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Prosperity Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $206,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PB shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens increased their price objective on Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson cut shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised Prosperity Bancshares from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Prosperity Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of Prosperity Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.92, for a total transaction of $39,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 107,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,616,574.80. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman H E. Timanus, Jr. sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $346,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 229,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,890,934.50. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,100 shares of company stock worth $1,236,104. 4.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Prosperity Bancshares Trading Down 1.8 %

PB stock opened at $78.59 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.23. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.16 and a 1-year high of $86.75. The stock has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.93.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last announced 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.8 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 45.85%.

Prosperity Bancshares Profile

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.