MML Investors Services LLC Sells 162 Shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR)

MML Investors Services LLC cut its holdings in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,677 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CFR. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,414,061 shares of the bank’s stock worth $381,897,000 after buying an additional 244,445 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers by 10.2% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,209,122 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,252,000 after acquiring an additional 111,719 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new position in Cullen/Frost Bankers in the third quarter valued at about $107,166,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 14.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 953,098 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $96,856,000 after acquiring an additional 120,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Cullen/Frost Bankers by 3.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 806,209 shares of the bank’s stock worth $90,185,000 after purchasing an additional 25,909 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CFR. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $123.00 to $115.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $121.00 to $117.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $118.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $127.07.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Price Performance

NYSE:CFR opened at $135.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $8.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.99. Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.09 and a 52 week high of $147.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.53.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE:CFR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The bank reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $518.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $517.25 million. Cullen/Frost Bankers had a net margin of 18.81% and a return on equity of 15.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Cullen/Frost Bankers’s payout ratio is 47.15%.

Insider Transactions at Cullen/Frost Bankers

In other Cullen/Frost Bankers news, EVP Bobby Berman sold 3,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.31, for a total transaction of $442,842.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,661 shares in the company, valued at $3,367,550.91. This represents a 11.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillip D. Green sold 14,358 shares of Cullen/Frost Bankers stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.96, for a total value of $1,980,829.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 94,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,026,597.08. The trade was a 13.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,864 shares of company stock valued at $2,977,033. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Cullen/Frost Bankers

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.