Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) saw a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,170,000 shares, an increase of 31.5% from the October 15th total of 1,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 594,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total value of $1,853,400.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,151,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,170,189.32. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas D. Neff sold 888 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.10, for a total value of $64,024.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $579,539.80. This represents a 9.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,219 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,803 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Commerce Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,631,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,004,000 after acquiring an additional 259,127 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $1,226,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $1,006,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 181.3% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $953,000 after buying an additional 11,540 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 138.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 18,496 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CBSH. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler set a $68.50 price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.79.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CBSH traded down $0.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $71.57. The company had a trading volume of 556,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 533,978. Commerce Bancshares has a 12 month low of $46.72 and a 12 month high of $73.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.74.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.07. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 24.15%. The business had revenue of $421.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.85 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 28.13%.

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.