Morgan Stanley Cuts Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) Price Target to $120.00

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $132.00 to $120.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Cullen/Frost Bankers from $136.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson cut shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $143.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Compass Point lifted their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $122.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.77.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Stock Up 2.3 %

CFR stock opened at $122.64 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $137.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $130.05. Cullen/Frost Bankers has a 52 week low of $94.09 and a 52 week high of $147.64. The company has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.83, a P/E/G ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.97.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.19. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 20.44%. On average, research analysts expect that Cullen/Frost Bankers will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is 42.84%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Bracher sold 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.45, for a total value of $1,603,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,355,819.70. The trade was a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cullen/Frost Bankers

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the fourth quarter valued at $69,591,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,012,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,223,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 117.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 568,730 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,618,000 after buying an additional 307,129 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 234.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 436,393 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,814,000 after buying an additional 305,921 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Company 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.