Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,200 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $1,850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CFR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 787,599 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,451,000 after buying an additional 131,726 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 125.2% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,888 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,610 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 371,879 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,345,000 after acquiring an additional 15,981 shares during the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services purchased a new stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in the first quarter valued at about $2,972,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 798,403 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $86,619,000 after purchasing an additional 244,197 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens upped their target price on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $116.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $109.00 to $100.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $117.00 to $108.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cullen/Frost Bankers currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.93.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Price Performance

Shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock opened at $111.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $106.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.38. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a twelve month low of $82.25 and a twelve month high of $123.17.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.14. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.51%. The business had revenue of $528.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $506.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is an increase from Cullen/Frost Bankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.50%.

Insider Activity at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, EVP Candace K. Wolfshohl sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.65, for a total value of $598,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,243,796.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Howard L. Kasanoff sold 3,000 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.20, for a total value of $357,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,481.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Candace K. Wolfshohl sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.65, for a total value of $598,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,753 shares in the company, valued at $2,243,796.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.89% of the company’s stock.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Company 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.