Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight Rating

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Free Report) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $58.00 price objective on the financial services provider's stock, down from their previous price objective of $66.00.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Raymond James lowered Commerce Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Commerce Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.17.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CBSH traded up $0.69 on Monday, hitting $56.88. 609,094 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 583,959. Commerce Bancshares has a 52 week low of $48.49 and a 52 week high of $72.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71. The company's 50-day moving average price is $62.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.12.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS 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 company had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $417.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Commerce Bancshares's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Commerce Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Commerce Bancshares news, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total transaction of $1,642,912.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,456.66. This represents a 35.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John K. Handy sold 2,722 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total value of $181,502.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,638 shares in the company, valued at $2,643,061.84. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. 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. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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