New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 302,857 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 18,700 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.32% of Prosperity Bancshares worth $22,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.9% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,183,295 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,280,000 after purchasing an additional 6,518 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 889,219 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,002,000 after purchasing an additional 53,654 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 834,701 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,157,000 after buying an additional 3,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 818,744 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,007,000 after buying an additional 6,972 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PB opened at $76.50 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.46 and a 200-day moving average of $75.94. The stock has a market cap of $7.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.94. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.16 and a fifty-two week high of $86.75.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.82 EPS for the current year.

Prosperity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.30, for a total transaction of $39,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 106,815 shares in the company, valued at $8,363,614.50. The trade was a 0.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman H E. Timanus, Jr. sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total value of $346,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 229,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,890,934.50. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,000 shares of company stock worth $1,140,995 in the last three months. 4.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PB shares. Raymond James upped their target price on Prosperity Bancshares from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Stephens lifted their target price on Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.88.

Prosperity Bancshares 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.