Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 9,362 Shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 281,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,362 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $17,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 163,782 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 219,826 shares during the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 474,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,244,000 after purchasing an additional 21,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 7,407.2% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 362,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,556,000 after purchasing an additional 358,066 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target 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. Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. 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 report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total transaction of $1,642,912.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,511 shares in the company, valued at $3,006,456.66. The trade was a 35.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $914,285.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,844,028.96. This represents a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 86,054 shares of company stock valued at $5,771,192 in the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ CBSH opened at $64.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.80. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.89 and a twelve month high of $72.75. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.67 and its 200-day moving average is $64.47.

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

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is 27.43%.

Commerce Bancshares Company Profile

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.