Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning.

CBSH has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of 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. Piper Sandler set a $68.50 price objective on Commerce Bancshares and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.75.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of CBSH opened at $61.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.79. Commerce Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $47.09 and a fifty-two week high of $72.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $67.47 and a 200 day moving average of $63.22.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $421.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.85 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 24.15%. As a group, research analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP David L. Roller sold 890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $64,320.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,236,684.23. The trade was a 2.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total transaction of $1,853,400.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,151,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,170,189.32. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,398 shares of company stock worth $2,504,665. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Commerce Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $581,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 19.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,353,000 after buying an additional 17,400 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 110,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,559,000 after buying an additional 14,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $522,000. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.