Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut Commerce Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $66.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.71.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CBSH traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.75. The stock had a trading volume of 648,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,614. The company has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a P/E/G ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.67. Commerce Bancshares has a 1 year low of $40.91 and a 1 year high of $65.86.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $414.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.88 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 23.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Commerce Bancshares news, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total transaction of $124,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,454,999.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Jonathan M. Kemper sold 19,626 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $1,249,391.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 997,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,476,149.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 2,000 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total value of $124,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,454,999.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,612 shares of company stock valued at $3,184,609 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CBSH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,372,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $660,816,000 after buying an additional 558,017 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 19.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,069,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $115,453,000 after buying an additional 342,793 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 7.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,509,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $195,776,000 after buying an additional 240,938 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 168.3% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 342,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,081,000 after buying an additional 214,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 15.4% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,260,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $70,339,000 after buying an additional 168,550 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Commerce Bancshares Company Profile

Commerce Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Commerce Bank that provides retail, mortgage banking, corporate, investment, trust, and asset management products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Wealth.