Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) Stock

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $74.00 to $76.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 16.99% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Piper Sandler started coverage on Community Bank System in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James raised Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

Community Bank System stock opened at $64.96 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $65.15 and a 200-day moving average of $61.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.88 and a beta of 0.67. Community Bank System has a 1 year low of $41.50 and a 1 year high of $73.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $196.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190,950 billion. Community Bank System had a net margin of 19.40% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Community Bank System will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Community Bank System news, Director John F. Whipple sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total value of $287,794.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,661.30. The trade was a 40.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Community Bank System

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CBU. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Community Bank System by 8.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,770,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,588,000 after purchasing an additional 142,909 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,208,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,212,000 after purchasing an additional 8,751 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 652,991 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,919,000 after buying an additional 9,863 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Community Bank System by 699.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 144,817 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,932,000 after buying an additional 126,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in Community Bank System by 151.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 127,227 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,388,000 after buying an additional 76,703 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.79% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Company Profile

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.