Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 33,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,784,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. First Republic Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,496,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 5,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 49,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,432,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 23,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CBSH. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Commerce Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Commerce Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.87, for a total value of $40,055.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,399,294.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.87, for a total value of $40,055.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,399,294.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Benjamin F. Rassieur III sold 1,785 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.83, for a total transaction of $96,086.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,806,911.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,321 shares of company stock worth $752,387 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ CBSH opened at $53.10 on Friday. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.91 and a 52 week high of $56.75. The stock has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $52.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.93.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 23.33% and a return on equity of 16.78%. The firm had revenue of $397.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Commerce Bancshares’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Commerce Bancshares 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.