Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 7,428 Shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,153 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,428 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.10% of Community Bank System worth $3,402,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CBU. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 99.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 478 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,081 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 140.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,774 shares of the bank’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in shares of Community Bank System during the fourth quarter worth about $127,000. 73.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jeffrey M. Levy sold 1,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total transaction of $74,953.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $431,443.22. This trade represents a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Community Bank System from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Community Bank System Price Performance

Shares of CBU opened at $54.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.03. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 1-year low of $42.16 and a 1-year high of $73.39.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.95 million. Community Bank System had a net margin of 19.40% and a return on equity of 10.94%. Community Bank System’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.49%.

About Community Bank System

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.