StockNews.com Upgrades Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) to Sell

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on CFR. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Wedbush reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson restated a buy rating and set a $126.00 price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $117.46.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Price Performance

NYSE CFR opened at $106.11 on Friday. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a one year low of $82.25 and a one year high of $120.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $108.84 and a 200 day moving average of $104.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.02. 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post 8.43 EPS for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is currently 43.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, EVP Bobby Berman sold 1,312 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total transaction of $138,402.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,815 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,934,204.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, EVP Bobby Berman sold 1,312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total transaction of $138,402.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,934,204.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Bracher sold 9,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total value of $1,074,308.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,543,972. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cullen/Frost Bankers

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,412,843 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $695,729,000 after buying an additional 19,755 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,476,411 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $134,663,000 after purchasing an additional 88,042 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 821,103 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,432,000 after purchasing an additional 12,897 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 44.1% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 798,403 shares of the bank’s stock worth $86,619,000 after purchasing an additional 244,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 20.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

About Cullen/Frost Bankers

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.