Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

CBSH has been the topic of several other reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective (up from $62.00) on shares of Commerce Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Raymond James Financial raised Commerce Bancshares to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Commerce Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.29.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CBSH opened at $55.14 on Friday. Commerce Bancshares has a 1-year low of $46.99 and a 1-year high of $60.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.60.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $498.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $492.22 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.31% and a net margin of 26.07%.During the same period last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a $0.2750 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John W. Kemper sold 5,830 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.58, for a total transaction of $353,181.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 206,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,511,466.24. This trade represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Douglas D. Neff sold 666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.15, for a total value of $38,727.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 11,746 shares in the company, valued at $683,029.90. This represents a 5.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 32,950 shares of company stock valued at $1,963,777 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CBSH. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $83,328,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,016,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,311,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 29.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,943,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $193,999,000 after purchasing an additional 894,183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,566,000. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Commerce Bancshares

Commerce Bancshares, Inc is a financial holding company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Its principal subsidiary, Commerce Bank, provides banking and financial services to businesses, institutions and individuals through a network of branches and digital channels.

The company’s offerings include commercial and consumer lending, deposit accounts, treasury and payment services, credit and debit cards, investment services, brokerage, trust administration and wealth management. Commerce also provides specialized services for businesses, including cash management, merchant processing and other payment solutions.

Commerce Bank traces its history to 1865 and primarily serves customers in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Colorado.