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

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,800 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $2,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $381,897,000 after acquiring an additional 244,445 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its position 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 worth $135,252,000 after purchasing an additional 111,719 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 6.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,097,697 shares of the bank’s stock worth $122,820,000 after purchasing an additional 66,223 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,052,290 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,270,000 after buying an additional 94,252 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 3.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 806,209 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,185,000 after buying an additional 25,909 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CFR. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $144.00 price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Maxim Group raised their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $138.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Stephens raised their target price 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.54.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Performance

Shares of CFR stock opened at $143.53 on Friday. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.09 and a 12-month high of $147.64. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a PE ratio of 16.18, a PEG ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 0.99.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by $0.19. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 16.04% and a net margin of 18.81%. Analysts expect that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.84%.

Insider Activity at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In related news, insider Paul Bracher sold 11,500 shares of the company’s 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillip D. Green sold 14,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.96, for a total value of $1,980,829.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 94,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,026,597.08. The trade was a 13.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.89% 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.