Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Reduces Stock Position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lessened its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 29.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,467 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,377 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $1,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 122,282.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,005,982 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005,160 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,591,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,223,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 973,576 shares of the bank’s stock worth $130,703,000 after purchasing an additional 245,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Cullen/Frost Bankers during the 4th quarter worth $21,181,000. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFR has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $138.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $147.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cullen/Frost Bankers presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.08.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE CFR opened at $128.45 on Tuesday. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.94 and a 52 week high of $147.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $125.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.68.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) 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. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 15.70% and a net margin of 20.89%. The business had revenue of $560.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $540.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, CAO Matthew Bradley Henson purchased 1,870 shares of the 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 completion of the acquisition, the chief accounting officer owned 5,545 shares in the company, valued at $93,876.85. The trade was a 50.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.