Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Increases Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) Price Target to $74.00

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $64.00 to $74.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.11% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Raymond James raised 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 report on Monday, October 28th.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

Community Bank System stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $68.45. The stock had a trading volume of 27,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 279,068. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $63.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.75. The company has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 21.32 and a beta of 0.65. Community Bank System has a 52-week low of $41.50 and a 52-week high of $73.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.83 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $186.35 million. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 10.52% and a net margin of 18.82%. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Community Bank System will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Community Bank System

In related news, Director John F. Whipple sold 3,937 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total value of $287,794.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,661.30. This trade represents a 40.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CBU. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Community Bank System by 8.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,770,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,588,000 after buying an additional 142,909 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Community Bank System by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,208,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,212,000 after buying an additional 8,751 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Community Bank System by 6.8% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 691,879 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,664,000 after buying an additional 44,137 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Community Bank System by 1.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 652,991 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,919,000 after buying an additional 9,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 164.9% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 213,167 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,064,000 after purchasing an additional 132,697 shares during the last quarter. 73.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Community Bank System Company Profile

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.