Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Buys 1,199 Shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $1,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Procyon Advisors LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $200,000. Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the third quarter worth $581,000. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $1,336,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,353,000 after buying an additional 17,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of Commerce Bancshares stock opened at $64.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.36. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.89 and a 52-week high of $72.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.80.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 26.93%.

Insider Activity

In other Commerce Bancshares news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $311,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 23,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,642,244.50. The trade was a 15.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.69, for a total transaction of $67,690.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,265 shares in the company, valued at $1,439,427.85. This represents a 4.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 86,054 shares of company stock valued at $5,771,192 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CBSH has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.83.

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.