Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Increases Stock Holdings in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CBSH. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 31,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,867,000 after buying an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter worth $255,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 1.2% in the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 18,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $219,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of CBSH opened at $66.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.80. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.79 and a 52-week high of $72.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $65.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.25.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 26.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of 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 upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total value of $1,752,105.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,929 shares in the company, valued at $14,258,583.12. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total transaction of $70,696.64. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,513,222. This trade represents a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 86,944 shares of company stock valued at $5,835,512. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.