Waterford Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 44,863 Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Waterford Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 44,863 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,155,000. Community Bank System comprises about 0.9% of Waterford Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Waterford Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of Community Bank System at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $592,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in shares of Community Bank System by 466.5% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 31,816 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after purchasing an additional 26,200 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $583,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Community Bank System by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,596,018 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $343,718,000 after purchasing an additional 43,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Community Bank System by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 536,844 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,975,000 after purchasing an additional 65,879 shares during the last quarter. 73.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Community Bank System

In other news, CEO Dimitar Karaivanov acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $43.52 per share, for a total transaction of $43,520.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 19,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $855,298.56. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CBU traded down $1.99 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $60.83. 231,582 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 296,417. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.65. Community Bank System, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.38 and a twelve month high of $63.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.14. Community Bank System had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The firm had revenue of $183.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. This is a positive change from Community Bank System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James lowered shares of Community Bank System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

About Community Bank System

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.