Pictet Asset Management SA Purchases 779 Shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Pictet Asset Management SA increased its position in shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 13.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,663 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 779 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management SA’s holdings in Community Bank System were worth $350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Community Bank System by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,943,008 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $557,203,000 after buying an additional 50,524 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Community Bank System by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,521,304 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $391,801,000 after buying an additional 65,454 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Community Bank System by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,037,367 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $355,486,000 after buying an additional 647,871 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Community Bank System by 287.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,522,903 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $95,867,000 after buying an additional 1,129,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Community Bank System by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,203,089 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $75,735,000 after buying an additional 16,741 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.39% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Stock Up 0.1 %

CBU stock opened at $47.15 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.07. Community Bank System, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $42.10 and a fifty-two week high of $66.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 0.59.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The bank reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.06. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 22.00%. The business had revenue of $176.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.63 million. On average, research analysts expect that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Community Bank System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is 61.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on CBU. Hovde Group upgraded Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. StockNews.com started coverage on Community Bank System in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Community Bank System from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Dimitar Karaivanov purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $48.50 per share, with a total value of $48,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 14,265 shares in the company, valued at $691,852.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Community Bank System Company Profile

Community Bank System, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, and municipal customers. It operates through three segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The company offers various deposits products, such as interest and noninterest -bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits.