Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) Competitors

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) and Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, community ranking, profitability, risk and earnings.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in WBS or CFR?

85.9% of Webster Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.9% of Cullen/Frost Bankers shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Webster Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Cullen/Frost Bankers shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WBS or CFR?

Webster Financial received 153 more outperform votes than Cullen/Frost Bankers when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.13% of users gave Webster Financial an outperform vote while only 41.44% of users gave Cullen/Frost Bankers an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Webster Financial	Outperform Votes 492 59.13%	Underperform Votes 340 40.87%
Cullen/Frost Bankers	Outperform Votes 339 41.44%	Underperform Votes 479 58.56%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, WBS or CFR?

Webster Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Cullen/Frost Bankers. Webster Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cullen/Frost Bankers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Webster Financial	$2.73 billion	2.37	$644.28 million	$4.93	7.48
Cullen/Frost Bankers	$1.85 billion	3.66	$579.15 million	$10.01	10.52

Is WBS or CFR more profitable?

Cullen/Frost Bankers has a net margin of 30.40% compared to Webster Financial's net margin of 28.33%. Cullen/Frost Bankers' return on equity of 21.59% beat Webster Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Webster Financial	28.33%	13.39%	1.47%
Cullen/Frost Bankers	30.40%	21.59%	1.26%

Does the media prefer WBS or CFR?

In the previous week, Webster Financial had 4 more articles in the media than Cullen/Frost Bankers. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Webster Financial and 7 mentions for Cullen/Frost Bankers. Webster Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.58 beat Cullen/Frost Bankers' score of 0.38 indicating that Webster Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Webster Financial	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cullen/Frost Bankers	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is WBS or CFR a better dividend stock?

Webster Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Cullen/Frost Bankers pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Webster Financial pays out 32.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cullen/Frost Bankers pays out 34.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Cullen/Frost Bankers has raised its dividend for 29 consecutive years. Webster Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts rate WBS or CFR?

Webster Financial presently has a consensus price target of $54.42, suggesting a potential upside of 47.51%. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a consensus price target of $134.42, suggesting a potential upside of 27.70%. Given Webster Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Webster Financial is more favorable than Cullen/Frost Bankers.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Webster Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Cullen/Frost Bankers	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has more risk & volatility, WBS or CFR?

Webster Financial has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cullen/Frost Bankers has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Webster Financial beats Cullen/Frost Bankers on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.