Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Short Interest Update

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,780,000 shares, an increase of 13.0% from the May 31st total of 2,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 464,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CBSH shares. Raymond James upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.77, for a total transaction of $1,509,003.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 198,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,262,429.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $71,835,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,372,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $660,816,000 after acquiring an additional 558,017 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,676,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,541,000 after acquiring an additional 302,630 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 972,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,928,000 after purchasing an additional 237,703 shares during the period. Finally, Commerce Bank grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 7,222,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $385,771,000 after purchasing an additional 196,431 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of CBSH stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $55.39. 204,322 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 470,913. Commerce Bancshares has a 12-month low of $40.91 and a 12-month high of $57.48. The company has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.48.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $397.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

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.