Short Interest in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Increases By 12.1%

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) was the target of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,200,000 shares, a growth of 12.1% from the September 30th total of 1,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 253,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Community Bank System

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in Community Bank System by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 26,600 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Community Bank System by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,895 shares of the bank’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Community Bank System by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,930 shares of the bank’s stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Community Bank System by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,235 shares of the bank’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Community Bank System by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 29,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. 73.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on CBU. Raymond James upgraded shares of Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Community Bank System in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th.

Community Bank System Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CBU traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $61.18. The stock had a trading volume of 491,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 282,753. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Community Bank System has a fifty-two week low of $39.05 and a fifty-two week high of $63.95.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $188.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.35 million. Community Bank System had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Community Bank System’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Community Bank System will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Community Bank System’s payout ratio is presently 57.32%.

About Community Bank System

Community Bank System, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, institutional, and municipal customers. It operates through three segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The company offers various deposits products, such as interest and noninterest -bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits.