Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) Short Interest Up 9.0% in September

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,740,000 shares, an increase of 9.0% from the September 15th total of 3,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 501,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.5 days. Approximately 6.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CFR. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $127.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wedbush cut their target price on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $124.00 to $123.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Stephens lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. 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, Cullen/Frost Bankers currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.31.

Insider Transactions at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In other news, EVP Howard L. Kasanoff sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.20, for a total transaction of $357,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,598 shares in the company, valued at $190,481.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, EVP Candace K. Wolfshohl sold 5,000 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.65, for a total value of $598,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 18,753 shares in the company, valued at $2,243,796.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Howard L. Kasanoff sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.20, for a total transaction of $357,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $190,481.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,192,486 shares of the bank’s stock worth $359,378,000 after purchasing an additional 495,215 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,813,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 7,109.7% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 250,896 shares of the bank’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 247,416 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 44.1% in the fourth 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, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 18.8% in the 1st 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE CFR traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $124.14. 375,305 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 440,242. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a 1-year low of $82.25 and a 1-year high of $124.91. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.62. The firm has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.00.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.14. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 19.51% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The firm had revenue of $528.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $506.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.47 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This is a positive change from Cullen/Frost Bankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is currently 44.92%.

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.