Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily volume of 513,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company's stock are short sold.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of PB stock traded down $0.05 on Friday, hitting $70.49. 923,831 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 524,297. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.94. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $76.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.17. Prosperity Bancshares has a one year low of $57.16 and a one year high of $86.76.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Prosperity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Prosperity Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of Prosperity Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.25, for a total transaction of $37,625.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 109,815 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,263,578.75. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,500 shares of company stock valued at $418,095. Corporate 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. 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 buying an additional 44,567 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position 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 valued at $345,575,000 after acquiring an additional 48,304 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position 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 valued at $176,473,000 after acquiring an additional 32,917 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Snyder Capital Management L P boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $92,001,000 after purchasing an additional 83,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PB shares. Wolfe Research reissued a "peer perform" rating on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America upgraded Prosperity Bancshares from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James raised their target price on Prosperity Bancshares from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays upped their price target on 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, Stephens raised their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" 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.