Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,630,000 shares, an increase of 15.6% from the January 15th total of 1,410,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 234,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jeffrey M. Levy sold 1,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total transaction of $74,953.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $431,443.22. This trade represents a 14.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John F. Whipple sold 3,937 shares of Community Bank System stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total transaction of $287,794.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $425,661.30. The trade was a 40.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 494.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 30,552 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,774,000 after purchasing an additional 25,415 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Community Bank System by 19.9% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,867 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 972 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in Community Bank System by 30.6% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,621 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,787 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Community Bank System by 23.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,816 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 13,488 shares of the bank’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares during the period. 73.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CBU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Community Bank System from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Raymond James raised Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on Community Bank System in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock.

Community Bank System Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Community Bank System stock traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $65.02. 83,621 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 226,061. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90 and a beta of 0.67. Community Bank System has a twelve month low of $41.50 and a twelve month high of $73.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.39.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. Community Bank System had a net margin of 19.40% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The firm had revenue of $196.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Community Bank System’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Community Bank System will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.49%.

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.