Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU - Free Report) by 88.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 102,586 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 48,103 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.20% of Community Bank System worth $6,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CBU. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Community Bank System by 99.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,647 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,367,000 after acquiring an additional 54,554 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 254,869 shares of the bank's stock worth $15,720,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in Community Bank System by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 30,866 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,792,000 after buying an additional 10,060 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Community Bank System by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,208,859 shares of the bank's stock valued at $70,212,000 after buying an additional 8,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Community Bank System in the fourth quarter worth about $687,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.79% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Community Bank System

In other news, SVP Jeffrey M. Levy sold 1,136 shares of Community Bank System stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total transaction of $74,953.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at $431,443.22. The trade was a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

Community Bank System stock traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $52.98. 191,908 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 261,177. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.50 and a 1 year high of $73.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $59.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.18.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 19.40%. The firm had revenue of $196.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. Community Bank System's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. Community Bank System's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Community Bank System from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Community Bank System Company Profile

Community Bank System, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, institutional, and municipal customers. It operates through three segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The company offers various deposits products, such as interest and noninterest -bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits.