Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Raises Stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,177 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $3,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBSH. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 94.3% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 80,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,762,000 after acquiring an additional 38,909 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 9,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Commerce Bancshares by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,353,000 after purchasing an additional 17,400 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at about $566,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBSH has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.17.

Insider Activity at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,844,028.96. The trade was a 13.53 % 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, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares in the company, valued at $1,513,222. This represents a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

Commerce Bancshares stock opened at $60.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $61.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.07. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $49.81 and a one year high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $428.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.85 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is 27.43%.

Commerce Bancshares 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.