Insider Selling: Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) EVP Sells 4,844 Shares of Stock

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) EVP John K. Handy sold 4,844 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.25, for a total transaction of $325,759.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,734,048.75. The trade was a 10.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CBSH traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $68.36. 431,923 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 545,401. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.09 and a twelve month high of $72.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $65.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.10.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.9 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 26.93%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBSH. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,396,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,951,000 after buying an additional 163,782 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,468,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,524,000 after purchasing an additional 219,826 shares during the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 17.7% in the third quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 707,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,006,000 after purchasing an additional 106,316 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 474,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,244,000 after buying an additional 21,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Commerce Bancshares by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 391,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,421,000 after buying an additional 29,032 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on CBSH shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James lowered Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.83.

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.