Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys New Stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 157,774 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $21,181,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,375,303 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $855,884,000 after buying an additional 66,243 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,052,290 shares of the bank’s stock worth $141,270,000 after purchasing an additional 94,252 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 834,015 shares of the bank’s stock worth $111,967,000 after purchasing an additional 9,050 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 822,432 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,418,000 after purchasing an additional 16,223 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 611,722 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $82,124,000 after purchasing an additional 14,422 shares in the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, insider Paul Bracher sold 11,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.45, for a total transaction of $1,603,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,355,819.70. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on CFR shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $136.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on 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. Barclays began coverage on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $130.00 target price on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $143.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cullen/Frost Bankers currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.57.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Up 0.3 %

CFR opened at $111.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.82. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $94.09 and a one year high of $147.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $124.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.04.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 20.44%. Analysts anticipate that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.84%.

Cullen/Frost Bankers 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.