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

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.75.

A number of analysts have recently commented on CBSH shares. StockNews.com upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered Commerce Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.55, for a total transaction of $34,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,265 shares in the company, valued at $1,526,265.75. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total value of $1,853,400.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,151,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,170,189.32. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,398 shares of company stock worth $2,504,665 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CBSH. Sound Stewardship LLC grew its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 3.9% during the third quarter. Sound Stewardship LLC now owns 4,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 18,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CBSH opened at $61.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.08, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $67.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.22. Commerce Bancshares has a 12-month low of $47.09 and a 12-month high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $421.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.85 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 24.15% and a return on equity of 15.93%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.