JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Holdings in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,412,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 80,003 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 1.10% of Commerce Bancshares worth $83,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter worth $566,000. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $581,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,353,000 after purchasing an additional 17,400 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $522,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Commerce Bancshares by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 110,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,559,000 after purchasing an additional 14,775 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.55, for a total transaction of $34,275.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 22,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,526,265.75. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total value of $1,853,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,151,994 shares in the company, valued at $71,170,189.32. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,398 shares of company stock worth $2,504,665. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CBSH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.07.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of CBSH opened at $61.75 on Friday. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.09 and a 1-year high of $72.75. The stock has a market cap of $7.92 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $67.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.69.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $421.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.85 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 24.15%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 28.13%.

About Commerce Bancshares

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.