Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Takes Position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $113,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CBSH. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,468,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,524,000 after acquiring an additional 219,826 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,387,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,396,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,951,000 after acquiring an additional 163,782 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Commerce Bancshares by 3,635.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 153,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,544,000 after purchasing an additional 149,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC grew its position in Commerce Bancshares by 17.7% during the third quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 707,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,006,000 after purchasing an additional 106,316 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CBSH. Raymond James downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $914,285.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,844,028.96. This represents a 13.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total transaction of $1,752,105.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 211,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,258,583.12. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Down 0.3 %

CBSH stock opened at $61.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.49 and a 12 month high of $72.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $64.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.42.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. Commerce Bancshares’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. 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.