Short Interest in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) Expands By 28.2%

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, an increase of 28.2% from the October 31st total of 1,490,000 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 555,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Prosperity Bancshares Price Performance

Prosperity Bancshares stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $83.93. 117,950 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 568,269. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.82. The firm has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.89. Prosperity Bancshares has a 12 month low of $57.16 and a 12 month high of $86.75.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $459.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $299.83 million. Prosperity Bancshares had a net margin of 25.39% and a return on equity of 6.46%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Prosperity Bancshares will post 5.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Prosperity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. This is a boost from Prosperity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Prosperity Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 49.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prosperity Bancshares news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of Prosperity Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.66, for a total value of $42,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 113,315 shares in the company, valued at $9,593,247.90. The trade was a 0.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman H E. Timanus, Jr. sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total transaction of $346,000.00. Following 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,600 shares of company stock worth $562,594. Company insiders own 4.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prosperity Bancshares

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp boosted 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 purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,720 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 59.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 474 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 7,058 shares of the bank’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 5.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,875 shares of the bank’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on PB shares. Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $80.50 to $82.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on Prosperity Bancshares from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial cut shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $81.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Prosperity Bancshares has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.95.

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.