Lazard Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 3,603 Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB)

Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,603 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PB. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 487.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the bank's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 368.5% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 520 shares of the bank's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 102.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 592 shares of the bank's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 349.5% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 917 shares of the bank's stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 987 shares of the bank's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prosperity Bancshares news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.63, for a total transaction of $35,315.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 104,815 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,403,083.45. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 6,600 shares of company stock valued at $460,409 over the last ninety days. 4.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Prosperity Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Prosperity Bancshares from $85.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Prosperity Bancshares from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on Prosperity Bancshares from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Prosperity Bancshares from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.80.

Prosperity Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of PB stock traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $69.53. The stock had a trading volume of 49,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 626,055. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $57.16 and a one year high of $86.75. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $68.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.70.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. Prosperity Bancshares had a return on equity of 6.64% and a net margin of 26.79%. The company had revenue of $306.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $307.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prosperity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Prosperity Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 44.19%.

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.