Insider Selling: Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) SVP Sells 1,500 Shares of Stock

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.82, for a total transaction of $91,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,543,672.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Commerce Bancshares stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $60.20. The stock had a trading volume of 313,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,581. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.91 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.98.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $414.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $406.88 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 23.62% and a return on equity of 16.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.08%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $3,827,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Commerce Bancshares by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,631,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,004,000 after purchasing an additional 259,127 shares in the last quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. increased its position in Commerce Bancshares by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 232,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,432,000 after purchasing an additional 63,266 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,176,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 193,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,341,000 after purchasing an additional 7,740 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CBSH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

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.