Citigroup Increases Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) Price Target to $131.00

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers to $131 from $125 but maintained a sell rating, implying roughly a 5.39% downside from the current share price.
• Cullen/Frost beat quarterly expectations with $2.65 EPS vs. $2.49 expected and revenue of $1.04B vs. $587M expected, yet the stock traded down about 1.6% to $138.47.
• Analysts are mixed — recent upgrades (including a strong-buy and several buys) and downgrades leave an average consensus of Hold and an average target price of $145.08.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by analysts at Citigroup from $125.00 to $131.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "sell" rating on the bank's stock. Citigroup's price objective would suggest a potential downside of 5.39% from the company's current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $143.00 to $133.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Stephens upgraded Cullen/Frost Bankers from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen raised Cullen/Frost Bankers to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cullen/Frost Bankers currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $145.08.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Down 1.6%

NYSE:CFR traded down $2.27 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $138.47. The company had a trading volume of 466,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 551,334. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $138.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.58. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a 1 year low of $119.00 and a 1 year high of $148.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The bank reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.29 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 15.58% and a net margin of 22.86%.During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post 10.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cullen/Frost Bankers

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 18.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,530,772 shares of the bank's stock worth $209,833,000 after purchasing an additional 236,808 shares during the last quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the first quarter valued at about $3,422,000. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 9.6% during the first quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 115,157 shares of the bank's stock valued at $15,786,000 after buying an additional 10,070 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 543,468 shares of the bank's stock worth $74,499,000 after buying an additional 3,755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 8,942 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,226,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company's stock.

About Cullen/Frost Bankers

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc is the holding company for Frost Bank, a Texas-chartered financial institution whose origins date back to 1868 in San Antonio. As one of the oldest banking organizations in the state, it offers a broad range of services to individuals, small and large businesses, and institutional clients. Core banking activities include commercial lending, deposit services, cash management and trade finance, while consumer products cover residential mortgages, personal lines of credit and home equity loans.

Beyond traditional banking, the company provides comprehensive treasury and equipment leasing solutions tailored to support working capital and capital expenditure requirements.

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