The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 595,683 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 26,953 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.93% of Cullen/Frost Bankers worth $79,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 30.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 18,689 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,091,000 after acquiring an additional 4,348 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,083 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,756,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 234.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 436,393 shares of the bank's stock valued at $48,814,000 after buying an additional 305,921 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers during the fourth quarter worth approximately $389,000. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,037,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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 note on Friday. Barclays lifted their target price on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upgraded Cullen/Frost Bankers from an "underperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $132.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $143.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given 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 a consensus price target of $132.14.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of CFR traded up $4.74 on Friday, hitting $125.08. 550,290 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 466,531. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.09 and a 1 year high of $147.64. The stock's 50 day moving average is $119.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.13. The firm 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from Cullen/Frost Bankers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Cullen/Frost Bankers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.71%.

About Cullen/Frost Bankers

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.