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

Shares of Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $83.50.

PB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James raised 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Up 2.4 %

PB opened at $70.97 on Friday. Prosperity Bancshares has a twelve month low of $57.16 and a twelve month high of $86.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.79 and a 200-day moving average of $76.26. The stock has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.94.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.04. Prosperity Bancshares had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 6.64%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 45.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prosperity Bancshares news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of Prosperity Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.04, for a total value of $38,020.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 110,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,388,352.60. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,500 shares of company stock valued at $421,905. Company insiders own 4.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prosperity Bancshares

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,780,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $736,923,000 after purchasing an additional 44,567 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake 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 worth $345,575,000 after purchasing an additional 48,304 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake 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 worth $176,473,000 after purchasing an additional 32,917 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $123,162,000 after acquiring an additional 15,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Snyder Capital Management L P grew 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 valued at $92,001,000 after acquiring an additional 83,488 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.