Two Sigma Advisers LP Trims Position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Two Sigma Advisers LP decreased its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR - Free Report) by 64.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,800 shares of the bank's stock after selling 8,800 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP's holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFR. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,083 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $389,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,339 shares of the bank's stock valued at $583,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,090 shares of the bank's stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Matthew Bradley Henson acquired 1,870 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.93 per share, with a total value of $31,659.10. Following the acquisition, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,545 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $93,876.85. This trade represents a 50.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 2.89% of the company's stock.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Performance

Shares of CFR traded up $1.79 on Friday, reaching $128.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 116,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 464,454. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $120.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43, a PEG ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.67. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.09 and a 12-month high of $147.64.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.17 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $560.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $540.57 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 20.44%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.15 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a positive change from Cullen/Frost Bankers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Cullen/Frost Bankers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised 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 research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stephens raised their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $138.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $132.00 to $120.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cullen/Frost Bankers currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $131.93.

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.