Arizona State Retirement System Sells 335 Shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Arizona State Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,963 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Community Bank System were worth $780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CBU. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Community Bank System by 328.7% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,681,777 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,722,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056,276 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Community Bank System by 287.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,522,903 shares of the bank’s stock worth $95,867,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129,686 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Community Bank System by 14.8% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,037,367 shares of the bank’s stock worth $355,486,000 after acquiring an additional 647,871 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Community Bank System during the fourth quarter worth about $33,999,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Community Bank System by 220.1% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 230,906 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,120,000 after acquiring an additional 158,768 shares in the last quarter. 73.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Community Bank System Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:CBU opened at $41.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42 and a beta of 0.66. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.38 and a 52 week high of $55.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $45.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.81.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.08). Community Bank System had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The company had revenue of $177.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $175.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sally A. Steele sold 3,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.76, for a total transaction of $170,708.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,639,993.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mark J. Bolus sold 3,631 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $163,395.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 96,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,336,380. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sally A. Steele sold 3,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.76, for a total transaction of $170,708.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,639,993.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBU has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Community Bank System in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Community Bank System from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Community Bank System to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Community Bank System currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.67.

Community Bank System 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, institutional, 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.