New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,712 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of Commerce Bancshares worth $5,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 17.6% in the 4th 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. NFJ Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 707,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,006,000 after acquiring an additional 106,316 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in Commerce Bancshares by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 474,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,244,000 after acquiring an additional 21,922 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7,407.2% during the 3rd 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:CBSH opened at $64.09 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.47. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.89 and a 1-year high of $72.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.80.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $311,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 23,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,642,244.50. The trade was a 15.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 86,054 shares of company stock valued at $5,771,192 in the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CBSH. StockNews.com upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.83.

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.