Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Increases Stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 77.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,488 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,965 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CFR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in the 4th quarter valued at $69,591,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in the 4th quarter valued at $46,223,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 234.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 436,393 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,814,000 after purchasing an additional 305,921 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 13,334.7% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 281,860 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,840,000 after purchasing an additional 279,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 973,576 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $130,703,000 after purchasing an additional 245,458 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, CAO Matthew Bradley Henson purchased 1,870 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.93 per share, with a total value of $31,659.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,876.85. The trade was a 50.88% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CFR shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $147.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $132.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $132.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $138.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.14.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:CFR opened at $124.80 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $118.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.09. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.09 and a 12 month high of $147.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.07, a P/E/G ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.67.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The bank reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.13. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The firm had revenue of $560.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $540.57 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from Cullen/Frost Bankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.91%.

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.