Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Invests $668,000 in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,722 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $668,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CBSH. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 281,040 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $17,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,362 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $566,000. Procyon Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,336,000. Finally, Centiva Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $581,000. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $914,285.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,844,028.96. This represents a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total transaction of $1,752,105.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,258,583.12. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,516 shares of company stock valued at $5,457,086 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CBSH shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Commerce Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Commerce Bancshares has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $67.83.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ CBSH traded up $0.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.22. 678,637 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 531,916. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.56. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.89 and a 12-month high of $72.75. The firm has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. The company had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $417.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Commerce Bancshares's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Commerce Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.43%.

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.