Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stock Holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR - Free Report) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,865 shares of the bank's stock after selling 4,884 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $2,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CFR. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,651 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,086 shares of the bank's stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the bank's stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 4,028 shares of the bank's stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 17,800 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,390,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on CFR shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $147.00 to $140.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from an "underperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $132.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cullen/Frost Bankers currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $131.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, CAO Matthew Bradley Henson purchased 1,870 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.93 per share, with a total value of $31,659.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at $93,876.85. The trade was a 50.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Performance

CFR stock traded down $0.73 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $126.25. 375,059 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 466,128. The stock's 50-day moving average is $120.07 and its 200 day moving average is $130.59. The stock has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.23, a PEG ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.67. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.09 and a 52-week high of $147.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.13. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 20.44%. The company had revenue of $560.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $540.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. This is a positive change from Cullen/Frost Bankers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Cullen/Frost Bankers's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.91%.

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.