First Trust Advisors LP Trims Position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR – Get Rating) by 17.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,294 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 15,193 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.11% of Cullen/Frost Bankers worth $9,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CFR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 288 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 80.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers during the second quarter valued at about $51,000. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the third quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 175.5% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 540 shares of the bank’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.93% of the company’s stock.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of CFR opened at $118.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.06. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 1 year low of $112.67 and a 1 year high of $160.60. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.05.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The bank reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.16. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 30.80% and a return on equity of 18.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 28th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 27th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is 39.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CFR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $175.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research report on Monday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $178.00 price target for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $154.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $148.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul Bracher sold 5,848 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.97, for a total transaction of $765,912.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 92,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,158,468.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Company Profile

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Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial and consumer banking services. It operates through the Banking and Frost Wealth Advisors segments. The Banking segment operates commercial and consumer banking services. The Frost Wealth Advisors segment includes fee-based services within private trust, retirement services, and financial management services.