Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 258 Shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,930 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Community Bank System were worth $705,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CBU. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 164.9% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 213,167 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,064,000 after buying an additional 132,697 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 6.2% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,235 shares of the bank’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $579,000 after purchasing an additional 2,226 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Community Bank System during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Finally, Citizens & Northern Corp acquired a new position in Community Bank System during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $398,000. Institutional investors own 73.79% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

NYSE CBU opened at $57.59 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Community Bank System, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.38 and a twelve month high of $63.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.86.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $183.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.05 million. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 15.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Community Bank System Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. This is an increase from Community Bank System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Community Bank System’s payout ratio is 56.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on CBU shares. Raymond James lowered shares of Community Bank System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Community Bank System in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.50.

About Community Bank System

Community Bank System, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, institutional, and municipal customers. It operates through three segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The company offers various deposits products, such as interest and noninterest -bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits.