Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.17.

Several research firms have issued reports on CBSH. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total value of $1,642,912.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,456.66. This represents a 35.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total value of $1,752,105.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,929 shares in the company, valued at $14,258,583.12. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Commerce Bancshares by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 130,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,730,000 after acquiring an additional 13,681 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 110,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,559,000 after buying an additional 14,775 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 738.6% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,073,000 after buying an additional 45,559 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of CBSH stock opened at $61.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $64.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.43. Commerce Bancshares has a 12-month low of $48.49 and a 12-month high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. Commerce Bancshares’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is 27.43%.

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.