HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 27.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,990 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBSH. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 11,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $689,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Apriem Advisors raised its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Apriem Advisors now owns 3,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Verde Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Verde Capital Management now owns 3,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Commerce Bancshares news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $914,285.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,844,028.96. This trade represents a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CBSH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James cut Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.17.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 0.7 %

CBSH opened at $62.27 on Friday. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.49 and a twelve month high of $72.75. The firm has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.41.

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

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.43%.

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.