Commerce Bank Reduces Stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Commerce Bank lessened its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 33.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,644,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,315,839 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bancshares comprises about 1.8% of Commerce Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Commerce Bank owned approximately 3.62% of Commerce Bancshares worth $289,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 6.9% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 9,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,353,000 after buying an additional 17,400 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $566,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter worth $475,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ CBSH opened at $59.90 on Friday. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.81 and a fifty-two week high of $72.75. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71.

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

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is 27.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Commerce Bancshares news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,513,222. This represents a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $914,285.68. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272 in the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on CBSH. Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Commerce Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment 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 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.20.

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.