Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 9,362 Shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 281,040 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,362 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Commerce Bancshares worth $17,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7,407.2% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 362,900 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,556,000 after buying an additional 358,066 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,468,854 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $91,524,000 after buying an additional 219,826 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,396,740 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $142,951,000 after buying an additional 163,782 shares in the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 707,168 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $42,006,000 after buying an additional 106,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $6,087,000. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.

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Commerce Bancshares Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of CBSH traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $65.03. 755,846 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 521,719. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.50. The company has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.80. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.89 and a 1 year high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The company had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. 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 1.69%. Commerce Bancshares's payout ratio is 27.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Commerce Bancshares news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $311,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 23,725 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,642,244.50. The trade was a 15.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total transaction of $1,642,912.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,006,456.66. This represents a 35.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 86,054 shares of company stock worth $5,771,192. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

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.