Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Increases Stock Position in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,977 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Prosperity Bancshares were worth $601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,586,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $345,575,000 after acquiring an additional 48,304 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,342,047 shares of the bank’s stock worth $176,473,000 after acquiring an additional 32,917 shares during the last quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P grew its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P now owns 1,220,977 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,001,000 after acquiring an additional 83,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Prosperity Bancshares by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,188,208 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,531,000 after acquiring an additional 4,913 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Prosperity Bancshares

In related news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.78, for a total value of $34,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 102,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,146,518.70. The trade was a 0.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 5,500 shares of company stock valued at $385,225 in the last 90 days. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PB shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Hovde Group lowered their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $85.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prosperity Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.71.

Prosperity Bancshares Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:PB opened at $71.27 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.70. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.16 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.09.

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

Prosperity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.19%.

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.