First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 52,147 Shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH - Free Report) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,011,260 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 52,147 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.79% of Commerce Bancshares worth $63,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted 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 worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 1,719 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.30, for a total transaction of $115,688.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,688 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,257,702.40. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total transaction of $70,696.64. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,513,222. The trade was a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272 in the last ninety days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Commerce Bancshares stock opened at $60.09 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $61.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.16. The company has a market capitalization of $8.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.97 and a 12-month high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The business had revenue of $428.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $417.85 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares's payout ratio is 26.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on 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 reduced their target price for the company from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.20.

Commerce Bancshares Company Profile

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.

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