Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Price Target to $60.00

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $60.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

CBSH has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James cut Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Commerce Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.17.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of CBSH stock opened at $56.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71. Commerce Bancshares has a 1 year low of $48.49 and a 1 year high of $72.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.12.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its quarterly 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $914,285.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,844,028.96. The trade was a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total value of $70,696.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares in the company, valued at $1,513,222. This trade represents a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 281,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,362 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Procyon Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $200,000. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $1,336,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,225,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $824,080,000 after acquiring an additional 642,401 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.