Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $10.39 Million in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 166,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,387,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Commerce Bancshares as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 84.0% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Commerce Bancshares

In other news, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 1,719 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.30, for a total value of $115,688.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,257,702.40. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total value of $70,696.64. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,513,222. The trade was a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CBSH shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James cut Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.17.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CBSH opened at $61.44 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.43. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $48.42 and a one year high of $72.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $422.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. Commerce Bancshares’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.43%.

About Commerce Bancshares

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.