California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Stock Position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. $CFR

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 115,157 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,070 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $15,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CFR. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 109,154 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,822,000 after purchasing an additional 12,990 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 863.1% during the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,448 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,716,000 after buying an additional 19,221 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 268,194 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,961,000 after buying an additional 9,612 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 915.0% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 43,036 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,456,000 after buying an additional 38,796 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 52.8% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 130,944 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,581,000 after buying an additional 45,254 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $143.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Stephens raised Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $154.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carol Jean Severyn sold 837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.29, for a total value of $124,118.73. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 12,712 shares in the company, valued at $1,885,062.48. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of CFR opened at $161.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a one year low of $119.00 and a one year high of $163.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.40.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The bank reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $574.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.28 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 22.86% and a return on equity of 15.58%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 10.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This is a boost from Cullen/Frost Bankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is presently 40.12%.

About Cullen/Frost Bankers

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc is the holding company for Frost Bank, a Texas-chartered financial institution whose origins date back to 1868 in San Antonio. As one of the oldest banking organizations in the state, it offers a broad range of services to individuals, small and large businesses, and institutional clients. Core banking activities include commercial lending, deposit services, cash management and trade finance, while consumer products cover residential mortgages, personal lines of credit and home equity loans.

Beyond traditional banking, the company provides comprehensive treasury and equipment leasing solutions tailored to support working capital and capital expenditure requirements.