Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. $CFR Shares Sold by First Merchants Corp

First Merchants Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 3.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 42,709 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,751 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $5,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CFR. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 59.6% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 29.9% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 877.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,035 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 7,213 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 644.1% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,726 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 8,419 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 19.3% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 711,527 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,083,000 after purchasing an additional 114,910 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Performance

Shares of CFR opened at $127.37 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $127.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.31 and a 52-week high of $147.64.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The bank reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $567.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $552.04 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 21.20% and a return on equity of 15.46%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CFR. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. TD Cowen raised shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cullen/Frost Bankers currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.31.

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.