Morgan Stanley Upgrades Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) to Equal Weight

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $58.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $66.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 4.35% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on CBSH. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.83.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ CBSH opened at $55.58 on Monday. Commerce Bancshares has a 52 week low of $48.49 and a 52 week high of $72.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.23. The firm has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The company had revenue of $422.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Commerce Bancshares’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Commerce Bancshares news, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $914,285.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 86,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,844,028.96. The trade was a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total transaction of $1,752,105.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,929 shares in the company, valued at $14,258,583.12. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CBSH. FMR LLC boosted its position in Commerce Bancshares by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 110,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,559,000 after purchasing an additional 14,775 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $513,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 55,693.3% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 8,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 8,354 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 6.9% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 11.4% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 58,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,000 after acquiring an additional 6,043 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Company Profile

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.