Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) Stock Price

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley cut its price target on Prosperity Bancshares from $91 to $83 but kept an "overweight" rating, with the new target implying about a 23.7% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst coverage is mixed—seven Buys, seven Holds and one Sell—resulting in a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.31.
• PB traded at $67.09 (market cap $6.81B) after reporting quarterly EPS of $1.46 (beat by $0.01) while revenue fell 5.9% year-over-year; insiders have recently sold shares and institutions own roughly 80.7% of the stock.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $83.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the bank's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target points to a potential upside of 23.71% from the company's previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut Prosperity Bancshares from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Prosperity Bancshares from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler cut Prosperity Bancshares from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $74.00 in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Prosperity Bancshares from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Prosperity Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.31.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Performance

PB traded up $1.44 on Tuesday, hitting $67.09. The company had a trading volume of 362,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,262,642. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.60. Prosperity Bancshares has a 12-month low of $61.06 and a 12-month high of $77.20.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $317.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $319.30 million. Prosperity Bancshares had a net margin of 31.22% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The company's revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. Analysts forecast that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $33,125.00. Following the sale, the director owned 79,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,261,243.75. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 13,200 shares of company stock valued at $922,415. 3.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prosperity Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,256,927 shares of the bank's stock worth $708,856,000 after purchasing an additional 140,035 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 6.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,580,039 shares of the bank's stock valued at $373,231,000 after acquiring an additional 343,062 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,784,022 shares of the bank's stock valued at $317,416,000 after purchasing an additional 28,994 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,600,715 shares of the bank's stock worth $317,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,679,871 shares of the bank's stock worth $254,316,000 after acquiring an additional 15,192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

About Prosperity Bancshares

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc is a holding company for Prosperity Bank, offering a broad range of commercial and consumer banking services across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Through its network of branches and digital platforms, the company provides deposit products, business and real estate lending, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing, as well as wealth management and trust services.

Originally chartered in 1911 as First National Bank in McKinney, Texas, the organization rebranded to Prosperity Bank in 2009 following a series of strategic acquisitions aimed at deepening its regional presence.

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