Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Given Average Recommendation of "Reduce" by Analysts

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $68.17.

CBSH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of CBSH stock traded down $3.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $58.81. 172,686 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 577,346. Commerce Bancshares has a 12-month low of $48.49 and a 12-month high of $72.75. The company has a market capitalization of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $64.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.46.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares 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 dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 27.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the company'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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,513,222. This represents a 4.46 % 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $914,285.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,844,028.96. This represents a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 642,401 shares in the last quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 8,566,476 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $533,777,000 after buying an additional 351,406 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,675,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $228,991,000 after buying an additional 745,661 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 87,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,272,118 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $141,584,000 after acquiring an additional 227,052 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.