Xponance Inc. Takes $232,000 Position in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Xponance Inc. purchased a new position in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,764 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBU. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Community Bank System by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,208,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,212,000 after acquiring an additional 8,751 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Community Bank System by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 661,317 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,790,000 after purchasing an additional 8,326 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Community Bank System by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 565,920 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,906,000 after purchasing an additional 34,143 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Community Bank System by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 254,869 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,720,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 699.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 144,817 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,932,000 after buying an additional 126,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Community Bank System

In other news, SVP Jeffrey M. Levy sold 1,136 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $431,443.22. This represents a 14.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CBU. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Community Bank System in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Community Bank System from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Community Bank System Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE CBU opened at $56.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 12-month low of $41.50 and a 12-month high of $73.39. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.56.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.95 million. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 19.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.49%.

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.