Heritage Trust Co Acquires New Shares in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Heritage Trust Co acquired a new position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,296 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $766,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 110,423 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,559,000 after buying an additional 14,775 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 6.9% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,816 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 94.3% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 80,167 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,762,000 after buying an additional 38,909 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at about $515,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 22.1% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 9,902 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total value of $70,696.64. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,513,222. This represents a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $914,285.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,844,028.96. This represents a 13.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CBSH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upgraded Commerce Bancshares from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James downgraded Commerce Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.83.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

CBSH stock traded up $0.79 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $60.81. 450,859 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 587,556. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.81 and a 52 week high of $72.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $61.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.07.

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

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business 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 is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Commerce Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.43%.

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.