Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.95 (NYSE:CFR)

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) declared a quarterly dividend on Saturday, January 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.95 per share by the bank on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Cullen/Frost Bankers has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 31 years. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a payout ratio of 41.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cullen/Frost Bankers to earn $8.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.6%.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE CFR opened at $137.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a one year low of $94.09 and a one year high of $147.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $138.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.36. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.99.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.19. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 15.95%. Analysts expect that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CFR. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $144.00 price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 report on Monday, February 3rd. DA Davidson cut shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $143.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $122.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul Bracher sold 11,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 102,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,355,819.70. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.89% 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.