Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 10,654 Shares of Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. $PB

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB) by 121.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,417 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,654 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Prosperity Bancshares were worth $1,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Prosperity Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in Prosperity Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Prosperity Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Prosperity Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Prosperity Bancshares by 34.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 719 shares of the bank’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Prosperity Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Prosperity Bancshares in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays cut shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of Prosperity Bancshares from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut shares of Prosperity Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prosperity Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.31.

Prosperity Bancshares Trading Up 0.3%

PB stock opened at $69.78 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.66. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.06 and a 12 month high of $77.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $68.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.88.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $317.73 million during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. will post 6.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prosperity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Prosperity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 41.88%.

Insider Activity at Prosperity Bancshares

In other news, Director Ned S. Holmes sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.67, for a total value of $40,002.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 42,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,807. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 12,100 shares of company stock valued at $834,609 over the last three months. 3.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Prosperity Bancshares Profile

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.