Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Short Interest Up 15.6% in January

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,630,000 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the January 15th total of 1,410,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 234,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.9 days. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CBU. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Community Bank System in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. 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 on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Community Bank System from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Community Bank System Price Performance

NYSE CBU traded down $0.19 on Monday, reaching $65.02. The company had a trading volume of 83,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 226,061. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.90 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.42. Community Bank System has a 12 month low of $41.50 and a 12 month high of $73.39.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.95 million. Community Bank System had a net margin of 19.40% and a return on equity of 10.94%. Community Bank System’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Community Bank System will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.49%.

Insider Transactions at Community Bank System

In other news, SVP Jeffrey M. Levy sold 1,136 shares of Community Bank System stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total transaction of $74,953.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,539 shares in the company, valued at $431,443.22. This trade represents a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John F. Whipple sold 3,937 shares of Community Bank System stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total transaction of $287,794.70. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,823 shares in the company, valued at $425,661.30. This represents a 40.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Community Bank System

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CBU. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Community Bank System in the 4th quarter worth about $34,779,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Community Bank System in the 4th quarter worth about $32,368,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 210.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 348,405 shares of the bank’s stock worth $21,490,000 after buying an additional 236,028 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 677,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,809,000 after buying an additional 145,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 699.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 144,817 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,932,000 after buying an additional 126,700 shares during the last quarter. 73.79% of the stock is currently owned by 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.