Sepio Capital LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB)

Sepio Capital LP lessened its stake in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,271 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Prosperity Bancshares were worth $473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,780,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $736,923,000 after acquiring an additional 44,567 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,342,047 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $176,473,000 after purchasing an additional 32,917 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,708,509 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $123,162,000 after purchasing an additional 15,309 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,188,208 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $89,531,000 after buying an additional 4,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,986,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Prosperity Bancshares

In other news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $35,435.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 103,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,321,934.05. This represents a 0.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,500 shares of company stock valued at $413,945. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Down 2.6 %

PB stock opened at $64.38 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.04. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.16 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.04. Prosperity Bancshares had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 6.64%. Equities analysts forecast that Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prosperity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on PB shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $102.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Prosperity Bancshares from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Prosperity Bancshares from $77.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Prosperity Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.50.

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.