Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 454 Shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,172 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 454 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,083 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 234.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 436,393 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,814,000 after acquiring an additional 305,921 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Cullen/Frost Bankers during the fourth quarter worth $389,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,375,303 shares of the bank’s stock worth $855,884,000 after acquiring an additional 66,243 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,339 shares of the bank’s stock worth $583,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In related news, CAO Matthew Bradley Henson bought 1,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the purchase, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,876.85. The trade was a 50.88% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CFR. DA Davidson lowered shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $143.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $132.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $132.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $147.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.93.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of CFR stock opened at $126.60 on Tuesday. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.09 and a 12-month high of $147.64. The company has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $119.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $540.57 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.15 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Cullen/Frost Bankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.