Tower Bridge Advisors Lowers Stock Holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Tower Bridge Advisors lessened its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,850 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 7.7% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,414,061 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $381,897,000 after purchasing an additional 244,445 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 10.2% during 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 6.4% during 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 last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,052,290 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,270,000 after acquiring an additional 94,252 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 822,432 shares of the bank’s stock worth $110,418,000 after acquiring an additional 16,223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. DA Davidson downgraded Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $143.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $138.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cullen/Frost Bankers has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.54.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Price Performance

CFR stock opened at $136.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.09 and a 1 year high of $147.64. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.47.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 predict that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul Bracher sold 11,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.45, for a total value of $1,603,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 102,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,355,819.70. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Profile

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.