First Horizon Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,010 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Prosperity Bancshares were worth $76,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 987 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased 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 worth $3,272,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,359 shares of the bank’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PB. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $77.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Prosperity Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.88.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE:PB opened at $76.72 on Friday. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.16 and a fifty-two week high of $86.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.11.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 6.64%. On average, research analysts forecast that Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

Prosperity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.85%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of Prosperity Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.17, for a total value of $41,085.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 111,315 shares in the company, valued at $9,146,753.55. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Harrison Stafford II sold 4,000 shares of Prosperity Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.07, for a total transaction of $320,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 107,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,578,459.59. This trade represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,500 shares of company stock worth $752,665. Corporate insiders own 4.28% of the company’s stock.

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.