Short Interest in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Increases By 15.6%

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,630,000 shares, an increase of 15.6% from the January 15th total of 1,410,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 234,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CBU has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Community Bank System from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Community Bank System in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Community Bank System from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Community Bank System news, SVP Jeffrey M. Levy sold 1,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total value of $74,953.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at $431,443.22. This trade represents a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John F. Whipple sold 3,937 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total transaction of $287,794.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,823 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $425,661.30. The trade was a 40.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Community Bank System

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Community Bank System by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,081 shares of the bank's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,774 shares of the bank's stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 99.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 478 shares of the bank's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,140 shares of the bank's stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,526 shares of the bank's stock valued at $526,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.79% of the company's stock.

Community Bank System Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE CBU traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $63.09. The stock had a trading volume of 259,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 211,446. The business's 50 day moving average is $63.73 and its 200-day moving average is $62.54. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.67. Community Bank System has a 52 week low of $41.50 and a 52 week high of $73.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. Community Bank System had a net margin of 19.40% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The business had revenue of $196.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $190.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Community Bank System will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Community Bank System's dividend payout ratio is 53.49%.

About Community Bank System

Community Bank System, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, institutional, and municipal customers. It operates through three segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The company offers various deposits products, such as interest and noninterest -bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits.