Cerity Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Cerity Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 63,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,037 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $3,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CBSH. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Commerce Bancshares by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 94.3% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 80,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,762,000 after purchasing an additional 38,909 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 22.1% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 9,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,353,000 after purchasing an additional 17,400 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $914,285.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,844,028.96. This trade represents a 13.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 owns 22,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,513,222. This represents a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CBSH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Raymond James cut Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.17.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of CBSH opened at $56.88 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.15. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.49 and a fifty-two week high of $72.75. The stock 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 (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. The firm had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. Commerce Bancshares’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. 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. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend 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.