Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 7,639 Shares of Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 111,220 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,639 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Prosperity Bancshares were worth $8,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 1.1% in the 4th 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,342,047 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $176,473,000 after buying an additional 32,917 shares in the last quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P grew its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P now owns 1,220,977 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,001,000 after buying an additional 83,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,188,208 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $89,531,000 after buying an additional 4,913 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.62, for a total value of $31,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 102,815 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,541,090.30. The trade was a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,500 shares of company stock worth $382,420. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Hovde Group reduced their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $85.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.71.

Prosperity Bancshares Price Performance

PB opened at $72.64 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.70. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $57.16 and a one year high of $86.76.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $306.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $307.17 million. Prosperity Bancshares had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 6.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Prosperity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.19%.

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.