Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.95 Million Investment in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 18,000 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,953,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 39.1% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,408,656 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $333,382,000 after buying an additional 676,467 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in the fourth quarter valued at $81,228,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 15.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,481,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $472,050,000 after buying an additional 596,591 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 44.5% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,027,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $108,240,000 after buying an additional 316,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 3.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,252,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $826,700,000 after buying an additional 234,639 shares in the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CFR has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.92.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CFR opened at $109.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.03. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 1 year low of $82.25 and a 1 year high of $120.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $108.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $523.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.09 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 22.60% and a return on equity of 19.66%. Analysts expect that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, insider Paul Bracher sold 9,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total transaction of $1,074,308.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares in the company, valued at $10,543,972. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, insider Paul Bracher sold 9,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total transaction of $1,074,308.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares in the company, valued at $10,543,972. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bobby Berman sold 1,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total transaction of $138,402.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,934,204.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.89% of the company’s stock.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Company 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.