Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Stock Price

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) had its price objective reduced by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $72.00 to $66.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 8.71% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CBSH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.17.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of CBSH stock opened at $60.71 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.48. Commerce Bancshares has a one year low of $47.89 and a one year high of $72.75. The company has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Insider Activity at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total transaction of $70,696.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares in the company, valued at $1,513,222. The trade was a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $914,285.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 86,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,844,028.96. This represents a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,016 shares of company stock worth $5,422,811 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised 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 worth $689,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Canopy Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Canopy Partners LLC now owns 3,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Apriem Advisors raised its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Apriem Advisors now owns 3,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Verde Capital Management raised its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Verde Capital Management now owns 3,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

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.