Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $132.54.

CFR has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $136.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $122.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $138.00 to $143.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Transactions at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In other news, insider Paul Bracher sold 11,500 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.45, for a total transaction of $1,603,675.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,946 shares in the company, valued at $14,355,819.70. The trade was a 10.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cullen/Frost Bankers

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CFR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,375,303 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $855,884,000 after acquiring an additional 66,243 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,414,061 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $381,897,000 after acquiring an additional 244,445 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,209,122 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,252,000 after acquiring an additional 111,719 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,097,697 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $122,820,000 after acquiring an additional 66,223 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,052,290 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,270,000 after acquiring an additional 94,252 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Performance

Shares of CFR stock opened at $136.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.99. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a 52 week low of $94.09 and a 52 week high of $147.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $138.47 and a 200-day moving average of $128.41.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.19. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 15.95%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is 42.84%.

About Cullen/Frost Bankers

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Frost Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services in Texas. The company offers commercial banking services to corporations, including financing for industrial and commercial properties, interim construction related to industrial and commercial properties, equipment, inventories and accounts receivables, and acquisitions; and treasury management services, as well as originates commercial leasing services.