Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.95 Million Investment in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 18,000 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,953,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,345 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,736,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,032,068 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $696,489,000 after acquiring an additional 39,554 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 31,607 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,501,000 after acquiring an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in the 1st quarter valued at about $211,000. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $126.00 price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $109.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.92.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of CFR stock opened at $109.11 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $108.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.03. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 12-month low of $82.25 and a 12-month high of $120.31.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $523.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $498.09 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 22.60% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, analysts predict that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is 40.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Bracher sold 9,820 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total value of $1,074,308.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares in the company, valued at $10,543,972. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Paul Bracher sold 9,820 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total value of $1,074,308.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares in the company, valued at $10,543,972. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bobby Berman sold 1,312 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total transaction of $138,402.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,934,204.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.