Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $86.71 and last traded at $85.66, with a volume of 79704 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $84.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PB. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $77.00 price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a report on Thursday, October 24th. 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. Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $80.50 to $82.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given 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 $78.96.

Prosperity Bancshares Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.08. The company has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.89.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.03. Prosperity Bancshares had a return on equity of 6.46% and a net margin of 25.39%. The company had revenue of $459.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $299.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Prosperity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. This is a boost from Prosperity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.56%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 113,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,269,093.60. This trade represents a 0.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $372,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 981 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,708,509 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $123,162,000 after purchasing an additional 15,309 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 45,392 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,272,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 3.4% during the third quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 140,329 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,114,000 after buying an additional 4,648 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.