Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Short Interest Up 31.5% in October

by · The Markets Daily

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH – Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,170,000 shares, an increase of 31.5% from the October 15th total of 1,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 594,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total transaction of $1,853,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,151,994 shares in the company, valued at $71,170,189.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP John K. Handy sold 1,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total value of $84,917.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 41,548 shares in the company, valued at $2,650,762.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total transaction of $1,853,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,151,994 shares in the company, valued at $71,170,189.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,219 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,803 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBSH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,631,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,004,000 after acquiring an additional 259,127 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,509,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $195,776,000 after buying an additional 240,938 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,069,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $115,453,000 after buying an additional 342,793 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,260,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $70,339,000 after acquiring an additional 168,550 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 624,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,846,000 after buying an additional 3,391 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler set a $68.50 price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Commerce Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.79.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Commerce Bancshares

Commerce Bancshares Stock Down 0.5 %

CBSH traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $71.60. 287,442 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 533,067. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.73. Commerce Bancshares has a 52-week low of $46.38 and a 52-week high of $73.31.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $421.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.85 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 24.15% and a return on equity of 15.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.13%.

About Commerce Bancshares

(Get Free Report)

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.

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