Kovack Advisors Inc. Purchases New Shares in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $399,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 84.0% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CBSH. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.83.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Up 1.5 %

CBSH stock opened at $65.03 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.50. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.89 and a 12 month high of $72.75. The company has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.80.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $422.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.48 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 27.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Commerce Bancshares news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 4,500 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total transaction of $311,490.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 23,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,642,244.50. The trade was a 15.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Patricia R. Kellerhals sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.55, for a total transaction of $34,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,526,265.75. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 86,054 shares of company stock valued at $5,771,192. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.