Hilton Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Hilton Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 5.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,697 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,591 shares during the quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $5,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 18.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,021,559 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,994,000 after purchasing an additional 161,580 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $107,166,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 14.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 953,098 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,856,000 after acquiring an additional 120,333 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 806,209 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,185,000 after purchasing an additional 25,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 648,922 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,950,000 after acquiring an additional 2,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $121.00 to $117.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $123.00 to $115.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $127.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on shares of 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.86.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Performance

CFR opened at $137.83 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.42. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.09 and a fifty-two week high of $144.89.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The bank reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by $0.07. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 15.82% and a net margin of 18.81%. The firm had revenue of $518.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $517.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio is 47.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Bobby Berman sold 3,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.31, for a total transaction of $442,842.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,367,550.91. This trade represents a 11.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Howard L. Kasanoff sold 4,000 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.34, for a total value of $553,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,525.92. The trade was a 58.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.