Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $69.83 and last traded at $69.39, with a volume of 30811 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $62.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CBU shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Community Bank System in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James upgraded Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th.

Community Bank System Trading Up 13.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.05). Community Bank System had a return on equity of 10.52% and a net margin of 18.82%. The business had revenue of $188.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the second quarter valued at $76,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 23.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,816 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 27.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the second quarter valued at $212,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 4.5% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,895 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. 73.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Community Bank System Company Profile

Community Bank System, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, institutional, and municipal customers. It operates through three segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The company offers various deposits products, such as interest and noninterest -bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits.