Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 31,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,755,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $3,827,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,631,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,004,000 after acquiring an additional 259,127 shares during the period. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 232,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,432,000 after acquiring an additional 63,266 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,226,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 193,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,341,000 after acquiring an additional 7,740 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 0.3 %

Commerce Bancshares stock opened at $57.75 on Wednesday. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.91 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.67.

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

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Insider Transactions at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, CEO John W. Kemper sold 5,156 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.22, for a total transaction of $336,274.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 198,298 shares in the company, valued at $12,932,995.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Jonathan M. Kemper sold 19,626 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 997,112 shares in the company, valued at $63,476,149.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 5,156 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.22, for a total transaction of $336,274.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 198,298 shares in the company, valued at $12,932,995.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,612 shares of company stock valued at $3,184,609. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CBSH shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.71.

Commerce Bancshares 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.