Norges Bank Makes New Investment in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,385,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $86,327,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Commerce Bancshares by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,675,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $228,991,000 after acquiring an additional 745,661 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,225,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $824,080,000 after purchasing an additional 642,401 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,468,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,524,000 after purchasing an additional 219,826 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,594,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $99,364,000 after buying an additional 182,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $10,387,000. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CBSH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five 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 $68.17.

Insider Transactions at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $914,285.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,844,028.96. This trade represents a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 1,719 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.30, for a total transaction of $115,688.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,688 shares in the company, valued at $1,257,702.40. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272 over the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CBSH opened at $62.30 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.46. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.49 and a fifty-two week high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The company had revenue of $422.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.43%.

Commerce Bancshares Company 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.