State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Decreases Stake in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,864 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,547 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.06% of Community Bank System worth $1,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 99.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 478 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,816 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Community Bank System by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,774 shares of the bank’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Community Bank System by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the bank’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the 4th quarter valued at $141,000. 73.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on CBU shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Community Bank System from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Community Bank System in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

Shares of CBU stock opened at $62.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $63.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 18.10 and a beta of 0.67. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.50 and a 1 year high of $73.39.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $196.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.95 million. Community Bank System had a net margin of 19.40% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jeffrey M. Levy sold 1,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total value of $74,953.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $431,443.22. This trade represents a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.89% 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.