Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday.

CBSH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley cut Commerce Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler set a $68.50 price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.75.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CBSH opened at $64.31 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.28. Commerce Bancshares has a 52 week low of $47.09 and a 52 week high of $72.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.79.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.07. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 24.15%. The company had revenue of $421.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.85 million. On average, analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.13%.

Insider Transactions at Commerce Bancshares

In other news, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 1,582 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.54, for a total transaction of $106,848.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,417,723.86. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total value of $1,853,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,151,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,398 shares of company stock valued at $2,504,665. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBSH. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter worth $581,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Commerce Bancshares by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,353,000 after acquiring an additional 17,400 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $1,336,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 110,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,559,000 after acquiring an additional 14,775 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

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.