Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (CFR) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $94.27.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Jaffray Companies reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research note on Friday, July 28th. BidaskClub cut shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Stephens set a $97.00 target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, J P Morgan Chase & Co cut shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $100.00 to $88.00 in a report on Monday, July 31st.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) traded down 1.96% during midday trading on Monday, hitting $89.63. 138,205 shares of the stock traded hands. The firm has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $94.31 and its 200 day moving average is $91.93. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a 12-month low of $67.86 and a 12-month high of $99.20.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The bank reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, meeting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.29. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 28.49% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The business had revenue of $295.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post $5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 29th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is currently 44.79%.

In other news, Director Graham M. Weston bought 22,081 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $90.56 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,655.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 4.9% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,046,915 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $192,225,000 after buying an additional 95,236 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 8.1% in the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 100,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,476,000 after buying an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Equity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers during the second quarter valued at about $3,512,000. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers during the second quarter valued at $28,037,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 177.5% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,830,898 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $171,940,000 after buying an additional 1,171,078 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.80% of the company’s stock.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Company Profile

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc is a financial holding company and a bank holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of products and services throughout Texas markets. The Company’s segments include Banking, Frost Wealth Advisors and Non-Banks. The Banking segment includes both commercial and consumer banking services, and Frost Insurance Agency.