Orion Investment Co Boosts Stock Position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Orion Investment Co lifted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. Orion Investment Co’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $747,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth $2,611,000. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 33,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,113,000 after purchasing an additional 2,426 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Commerce Bancshares by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,484,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,756,000 after buying an additional 87,723 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 64,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,017,000 after buying an additional 17,003 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total value of $1,642,912.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,006,456.66. This represents a 35.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,844,028.96. This represents a 13.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CBSH. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James downgraded Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Commerce Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Down 7.5 %

NASDAQ:CBSH opened at $57.64 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.41. The stock has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.49 and a twelve month high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its 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. 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 analyst estimates of $417.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 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.