Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Upgraded to Outperform by Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $61.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on CBSH. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Bank of America began coverage on Commerce Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. They issued a neutral rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Commerce Bancshares presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:CBSH opened at $53.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.98. Commerce Bancshares has a 1 year low of $40.91 and a 1 year high of $56.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $397.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.49 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 23.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, EVP Robert S. Holmes sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.66, for a total transaction of $263,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,293 shares in the company, valued at $2,648,429.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Commerce Bancshares news, EVP Robert S. Holmes sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.66, for a total transaction of $263,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,293 shares in the company, valued at $2,648,429.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.87, for a total value of $40,055.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 25,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,399,294.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,321 shares of company stock worth $752,387 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CBSH. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 8.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 58,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,179,000 after buying an additional 4,611 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 14.7% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 27.2% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 25,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,814,000 after buying an additional 5,417 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 7.7% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 59,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,414,000 after buying an additional 4,310 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 1.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,527,000 after buying an additional 12,655 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.