Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) Short Interest Update

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,450,000 shares, an increase of 11.4% from the May 15th total of 2,200,000 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 368,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cullen/Frost Bankers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Arvest Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 46.5% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 334 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 90.7% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CFR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $126.00 price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Cullen/Frost Bankers to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.46.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE CFR traded down $0.78 during trading on Friday, hitting $95.03. 349,175 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 355,756. The company has a market capitalization of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.23. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a 12 month low of $82.25 and a 12 month high of $120.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $522.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $510.09 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 18.31%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.70 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post 8.43 EPS for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st were given a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio is 43.50%.

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.