Short Interest in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Drops By 15.1%

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a drop of 15.1% from the September 15th total of 1,260,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 286,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Community Bank System

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CBU. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Community Bank System by 8.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,770,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,588,000 after purchasing an additional 142,909 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Community Bank System by 164.9% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 213,167 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,064,000 after purchasing an additional 132,697 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Community Bank System by 152.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 182,397 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,611,000 after buying an additional 110,288 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 814,362 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,436,000 after buying an additional 107,285 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Community Bank System during the 1st quarter valued at $3,558,000. 73.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CBU shares. Raymond James downgraded shares of Community Bank System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Community Bank System in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.50.

Community Bank System Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CBU traded up $1.13 during trading on Monday, reaching $60.85. 249,496 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 284,932. Community Bank System has a 1-year low of $35.38 and a 1-year high of $63.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14 and a beta of 0.64.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.14. Community Bank System had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The firm had revenue of $183.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.05 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Community Bank System will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. This is an increase from Community Bank System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is 57.86%.

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.