Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires 208 Shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 162,778 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.25% of Cullen/Frost Bankers worth $21,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 7.4% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,449 shares of the bank’s stock worth $859,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 678 shares of the bank’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 767.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,383 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 2,993 shares during the period. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC increased its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 45.4% in the third quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 8.9% in the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 2,212 shares of the bank’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Phillip D. Green sold 14,358 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.96, for a total transaction of $1,980,829.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 94,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,026,597.08. The trade was a 13.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Bracher sold 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $14,355,819.70. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CFR. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $138.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $143.00 in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cullen/Frost Bankers presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.31.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Price Performance

Cullen/Frost Bankers stock opened at $141.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.09 and a 52 week high of $147.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $137.57 and a 200-day moving average of $125.49.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by $0.19. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 16.04% and a net margin of 18.81%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.