Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) EVP John K. Handy Sells 1,331 Shares

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) EVP John K. Handy sold 1,331 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total transaction of $84,917.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 41,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,650,762.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ CBSH opened at $61.24 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.30. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.91 and a 12 month high of $65.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.06, a PEG ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.17. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 23.62% and a return on equity of 16.50%. The company had revenue of $414.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.88 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.08%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $3,827,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,631,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,004,000 after purchasing an additional 259,127 shares during the period. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 232,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,432,000 after buying an additional 63,266 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,176,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $1,226,000. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CBSH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

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.