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

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,170,000 shares, an increase 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 presently 3.7 days.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ CBSH traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $71.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 556,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 621,438. Commerce Bancshares has a twelve month low of $46.72 and a twelve month high of $73.31. The stock has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $62.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.74.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.07. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 24.15% and a return on equity of 15.93%. The company had revenue of $421.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.85 million. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is 28.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CBSH. Piper Sandler set a $68.50 price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 lowered their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.78, for a total transaction of $1,853,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,151,994 shares in the company, valued at $71,170,189.32. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas D. Neff sold 888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.10, for a total transaction of $64,024.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $579,539.80. This represents a 9.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,219 shares of company stock worth $2,126,803 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Commerce Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CBSH. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7,407.2% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 362,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,556,000 after buying an additional 358,066 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 19.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,069,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $115,453,000 after buying an additional 342,793 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $672,004,000 after buying an additional 259,127 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,509,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $195,776,000 after buying an additional 240,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 168.3% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 342,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,081,000 after buying an additional 214,582 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.