Fayez Sarofim & Co Invests $200,000 in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Fayez Sarofim & Co bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 281,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,512,000 after buying an additional 9,362 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $566,000. Procyon Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,336,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,225,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $824,080,000 after purchasing an additional 642,401 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CBSH opened at $60.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $61.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.16. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.97 and a fifty-two week high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.05. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. The firm had revenue of $428.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.85 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CBSH has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Commerce Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.20.

Insider Activity at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total value of $70,696.64. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,513,222. This trade represents a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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 directly owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,844,028.96. This represents a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.