Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Increases Stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 995 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBSH. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 51.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 84.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James lowered Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com raised Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Commerce Bancshares news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $311,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 23,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,642,244.50. This represents a 15.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.55, for a total value of $34,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,526,265.75. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 86,054 shares of company stock valued at $5,771,192 over the last quarter. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of CBSH opened at $65.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $64.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.50. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.89 and a 12-month high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.43%.

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.