Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Shares Acquired by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CBSH. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,468,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,524,000 after purchasing an additional 219,826 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,055,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,764,000 after purchasing an additional 43,928 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in Commerce Bancshares by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 899,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,027,000 after purchasing an additional 7,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total transaction of $1,752,105.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,258,583.12. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total value of $1,642,912.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,511 shares in the company, valued at $3,006,456.66. This trade represents a 35.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of CBSH stock opened at $62.85 on Wednesday. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.49 and a 1 year high of $72.75. The firm has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $64.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.44.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $422.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CBSH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.17.

Commerce Bancshares 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.