Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 642,401 Shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,225,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 642,401 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Commerce Bancshares worth $824,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CBSH. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $47,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 84.0% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Commerce Bancshares by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total value of $1,642,912.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,456.66. This trade represents a 35.34 % 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, EVP John K. Handy sold 2,722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total value of $181,502.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,643,061.84. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of CBSH opened at $61.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 15.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.49 and a 1-year high of $72.75. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.43.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. Commerce Bancshares’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.275 dividend. This is an increase from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.17.

About Commerce Bancshares

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.