SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR - Free Report) by 644.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,726 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 8,419 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $1,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,026,585 shares of the bank's stock valued at $137,823,000 after purchasing an additional 6,159 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 122,282.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,005,982 shares of the bank's stock worth $125,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005,160 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 973,576 shares of the bank's stock valued at $130,703,000 after buying an additional 245,458 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 834,015 shares of the bank's stock valued at $111,967,000 after buying an additional 9,050 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CFR. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They set an "underperform" rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Stephens raised their target price on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $138.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $132.00 to $120.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $147.00 to $140.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Cullen/Frost Bankers from an "underperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $132.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $131.93.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE CFR traded up $1.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $124.73. 116,131 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 445,604. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a one year low of $96.93 and a one year high of $147.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $123.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $129.32. The company has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a PE ratio of 13.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.68.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR - Get Free Report) last posted 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 20.89% and a return on equity of 15.70%. The business had revenue of $560.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $540.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change from Cullen/Frost Bankers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Cullen/Frost Bankers's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.91%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Matthew Bradley Henson purchased 1,870 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.93 per share, with a total value of $31,659.10. Following the acquisition, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,545 shares of the company's stock, valued at $93,876.85. This represents a 50.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.