Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Short Interest Update

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a decline of 15.1% from the September 15th total of 1,260,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 286,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

Community Bank System stock traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $60.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 249,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 284,932. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14 and a beta of 0.64. Community Bank System has a 1-year low of $35.38 and a 1-year high of $63.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.61.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $183.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.05 million. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 15.90%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Community Bank System will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Community Bank System Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This is an increase from Community Bank System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is 57.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James lowered Community Bank System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Community Bank System in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBU. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the second quarter worth about $76,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Community Bank System by 40.7% in the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,695 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Community Bank System during the second quarter worth $212,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the 2nd quarter valued at $231,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,895 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. 73.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.