Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Shares Sold by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 33.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,644,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,315,839 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bancshares makes up 1.8% of Commerce Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $289,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 3.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter worth $566,000. Procyon Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at $200,000. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $1,336,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 5.1% during 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CBSH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Commerce Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 company’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,844,028.96. The trade was a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 0.2 %

Commerce Bancshares stock opened at $59.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.07. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.81 and a 1-year high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $428.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.85 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. On average, research analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.275 dividend. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.43%.

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.