VELA Investment Management LLC Reduces Position in Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

VELA Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 62.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,307 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,268 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 39.1% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,408,656 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $333,382,000 after purchasing an additional 676,467 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $81,228,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 15.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,481,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $472,050,000 after purchasing an additional 596,591 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 44.5% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,027,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $108,240,000 after purchasing an additional 316,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 3.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,252,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $826,700,000 after purchasing an additional 234,639 shares in the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CFR. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $109.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $126.00 target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Compass Point cut shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $109.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.92.

Insider Transactions at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In other news, EVP Bobby Berman sold 1,312 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total value of $138,402.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,934,204.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Paul Bracher sold 9,820 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was 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 approximately $10,543,972. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bobby Berman sold 1,312 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total value 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. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Down 0.0 %

Cullen/Frost Bankers stock traded down $0.04 on Monday, hitting $107.97. 350,878 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 413,050. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.56. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 1 year low of $82.25 and a 1 year high of $120.31.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $498.09 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 22.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.44%.

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.