Short Interest in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Rises By 31.5%

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,170,000 shares, a growth of 31.5% from the October 15th total of 1,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 594,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CBSH shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $68.50 price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.79.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Commerce Bancshares stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $71.57. The company had a trading volume of 556,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 621,438. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.74. The stock has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.73. Commerce Bancshares has a 1-year low of $46.72 and a 1-year high of $73.31.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $421.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.85 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 24.15% and a return on equity of 15.93%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total value of $1,853,400.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,151,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,170,189.32. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total transaction of $124,460.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,454,999.63. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,219 shares of company stock worth $2,126,803 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,631,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,004,000 after buying an additional 259,127 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,226,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,006,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 181.3% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $953,000 after purchasing an additional 11,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 138.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 18,496 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

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.