Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. $CFR

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,760 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,585 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CFR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,133,453,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 18.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,530,772 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $209,833,000 after acquiring an additional 236,808 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,224,265 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,059,000 after acquiring an additional 10,246 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 11.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,210,722 shares of the bank’s stock worth $165,966,000 after acquiring an additional 127,483 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 2.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 965,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $122,437,000 after acquiring an additional 21,793 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Price Performance

CFR opened at $161.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $10.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.36. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.00 and a 12-month high of $170.80.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The bank reported $2.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $576.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $589.72 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 23.34% and a return on equity of 15.55%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.39 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.94%.

Insider Activity at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In related news, EVP Carol Jean Severyn sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.29, for a total value of $124,118.73. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 12,712 shares in the company, valued at $1,885,062.48. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CFR. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $131.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $168.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.75.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Company Profile

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc is the holding company for Frost Bank, a Texas-chartered financial institution whose origins date back to 1868 in San Antonio. As one of the oldest banking organizations in the state, it offers a broad range of services to individuals, small and large businesses, and institutional clients. Core banking activities include commercial lending, deposit services, cash management and trade finance, while consumer products cover residential mortgages, personal lines of credit and home equity loans.

Beyond traditional banking, the company provides comprehensive treasury and equipment leasing solutions tailored to support working capital and capital expenditure requirements.