Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Stock Price

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Free Report) had its target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $74.00 to $70.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider's stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company 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 lowered their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com cut Commerce Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.20.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CBSH traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $59.90. 978,228 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 587,925. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $61.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.14. Commerce Bancshares has a 12-month low of $49.97 and a 12-month high of $72.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.05. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The firm had revenue of $428.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.85 million. Research analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Commerce Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is 26.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Commerce Bancshares news, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272 over the last quarter. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Commerce Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CBSH. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 84.0% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company's stock.

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.