Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) Short Interest Update

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 27.3% from the February 13th total of 1,210,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 513,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of PB opened at $70.49 on Wednesday. Prosperity Bancshares has a 52-week low of $57.16 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The company has a market capitalization of $6.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.25.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (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, equities analysts anticipate that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prosperity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prosperity Bancshares

In other Prosperity Bancshares news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,388,352.60. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,000 shares of company stock valued at $382,665. 4.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prosperity Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 487.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 368.5% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 520 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 592 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 190.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 815 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Prosperity Bancshares from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Prosperity Bancshares from $77.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Prosperity Bancshares from $102.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Bank of America upgraded Prosperity Bancshares from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.50.

Prosperity Bancshares Company 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.