Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Upgraded by Raymond James to Outperform

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) was upgraded by investment analysts at Raymond James from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $61.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Raymond James’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.88% from the company’s previous close.

CBSH has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Commerce Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CBSH opened at $53.10 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $52.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.93. Commerce Bancshares has a 52-week low of $40.91 and a 52-week high of $56.75. The company has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81 and a beta of 0.79.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 23.33% and a return on equity of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $397.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John K. Handy sold 1,508 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.79, for a total value of $82,623.32. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 46,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,549,049.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP John K. Handy sold 1,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.79, for a total transaction of $82,623.32. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,549,049.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Benjamin F. Rassieur III sold 1,785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.83, for a total transaction of $96,086.55. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,806,911.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,321 shares of company stock worth $752,387. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 130,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,282,000 after acquiring an additional 18,535 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 417,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,011,000 after buying an additional 15,508 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $526,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 147,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,089,000 after buying an additional 14,323 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 23.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 110,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,322,000 after purchasing an additional 20,737 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.