Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Free Report) had its price target increased by Piper Sandler from $65.00 to $66.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CBSH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered Commerce Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.20.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

CBSH traded down $0.12 on Thursday, reaching $59.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 978,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 587,925. Commerce Bancshares has a 1 year low of $49.97 and a 1 year high of $72.75. The business's 50 day moving average is $61.53 and its 200 day moving average is $64.14. The stock has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $428.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $417.85 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Commerce Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Commerce Bancshares news, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,844,028.96. The trade was a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total value of $1,752,105.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,929 shares in the company, valued at $14,258,583.12. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272 over the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $86,327,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Commerce Bancshares by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,675,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $228,991,000 after purchasing an additional 745,661 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Commerce Bancshares by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,225,491 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $824,080,000 after acquiring an additional 642,401 shares in the last quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC increased its position in Commerce Bancshares by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 8,566,476 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $533,777,000 after buying an additional 351,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,286,483 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $80,161,000 after acquiring an additional 310,443 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.