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. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%.

Commerce Bancshares has raised its dividend by an average of 3.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 56 consecutive years. Commerce Bancshares has a dividend payout ratio of 32.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Performance

Shares of Commerce Bancshares stock traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $53.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 810,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 486,905. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 0.79. Commerce Bancshares has a twelve month low of $40.91 and a twelve month high of $56.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.92 and a 200-day moving average of $50.90.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $397.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.49 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 24.41%. Commerce Bancshares’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Commerce Bancshares

In other news, EVP Robert S. Holmes sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,293 shares in the company, valued at $2,648,429.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Robert S. Holmes sold 5,000 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.66, for a total value 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Benjamin F. Rassieur III sold 1,785 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.83, for a total value of $96,086.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,806,911.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,321 shares of company stock worth $752,387 over the last quarter. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBSH. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 60,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,253,000 after acquiring an additional 7,430 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,030,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 51,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after buying an additional 3,846 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 25,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after buying an additional 1,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Commerce Bancshares by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 134,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,204,000 after buying an additional 11,089 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

About Commerce Bancshares

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.