Commerce Bancshares, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.27 (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.27 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%.

Commerce Bancshares has raised its dividend by an average of 3.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 56 years. Commerce Bancshares has a dividend payout ratio of 32.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Commerce Bancshares to earn $3.34 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.3%.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Up 2.0 %

CBSH stock traded up $1.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $53.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 810,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 486,905. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.90. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 0.79. Commerce Bancshares has a 52 week low of $40.91 and a 52 week high of $56.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its 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 24.41% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The company had revenue of $397.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.49 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In other news, EVP Robert S. Holmes sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.66, for a total transaction of $263,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,293 shares in the company, valued at $2,648,429.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Commerce Bancshares news, EVP John K. Handy sold 1,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.79, for a total value 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert S. Holmes sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.66, for a total value of $263,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,648,429.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,321 shares of company stock worth $752,387 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CBSH. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 102,920.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 133,790,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,107,097,000 after acquiring an additional 133,660,305 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 192.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,995,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,810,000 after buying an additional 1,313,291 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 18.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,736,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,761,000 after buying an additional 1,227,825 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $77,332,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,372,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $660,816,000 after purchasing an additional 558,017 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CBSH shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Commerce Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Commerce Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

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.