Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) Short Interest Up 40.7% in April

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, an increase of 40.7% from the March 31st total of 1,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 647,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Prosperity Bancshares Price Performance

Prosperity Bancshares stock traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.27. 149,723 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 574,196. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $69.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.16. The firm has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.70. Prosperity Bancshares has a 1 year low of $57.16 and a 1 year high of $86.76.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $306.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $307.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

Prosperity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Prosperity Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.19%.

Insider Activity at Prosperity Bancshares

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $40,005.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 107,315 shares in the company, valued at $8,586,273.15. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 5,500 shares of company stock valued at $390,340 in the last three months. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prosperity Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PB. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Prosperity Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $68,986,000. North Reef Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $29,211,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,112,574 shares of the bank's stock worth $79,404,000 after acquiring an additional 223,355 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 937,108 shares of the bank's stock valued at $70,611,000 after acquiring an additional 190,449 shares during the period. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Prosperity Bancshares by 462.3% during the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 169,778 shares of the bank's stock valued at $12,793,000 after purchasing an additional 139,585 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on PB shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on Prosperity Bancshares from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America upgraded Prosperity Bancshares from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Prosperity Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.71.

Prosperity Bancshares Company 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.