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

StockNews.com cut shares of Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on PB. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $80.50 to $82.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Prosperity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Raymond James cut Prosperity Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Prosperity Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $81.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.95.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Down 0.5 %

PB opened at $83.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.98 billion, a PE ratio of 17.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.82. Prosperity Bancshares has a 52 week low of $57.16 and a 52 week high of $86.75.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $459.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.83 million. Prosperity Bancshares had a return on equity of 6.46% and a net margin of 25.39%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Prosperity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Prosperity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Prosperity Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 49.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of Prosperity Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 113,815 shares in the company, valued at $9,269,093.60. The trade was a 0.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman H E. Timanus, Jr. sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total transaction of $346,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 229,953 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 6,100 shares of company stock valued at $520,264 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Prosperity Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. raised its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 157,770 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,646,000 after acquiring an additional 46,593 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Prosperity Bancshares in the third quarter worth $4,804,000. Prospector Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 24.6% during the third quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 228,992 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,503,000 after purchasing an additional 45,177 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 394.8% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,465 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 9,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 811,772 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,632,000 after purchasing an additional 112,101 shares in the last quarter. 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.