Insider Selling: Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Director Sells $1,249,391.16 in Stock

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Director Jonathan M. Kemper sold 19,626 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $1,249,391.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 997,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,476,149.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of CBSH stock opened at $65.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.27. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $40.91 and a one year high of $65.83.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $414.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $406.88 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 23.62%. Commerce Bancshares’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 30.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CBSH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of 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 raised their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James raised Commerce Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.86.

Institutional Trading of Commerce Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBSH. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $71,835,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,372,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $660,816,000 after buying an additional 558,017 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,676,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,541,000 after buying an additional 302,630 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 972,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,928,000 after buying an additional 237,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 7,222,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $385,771,000 after buying an additional 196,431 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.