Short Interest in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Increases By 15.5%

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, a growth of 15.5% from the May 15th total of 2,130,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 472,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,581 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.77, for a total transaction of $1,509,003.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 198,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,262,429.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CBSH. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 883,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,385,000 after purchasing an additional 36,554 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 36.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701 shares during the period. Pathstone Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $588,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 44.0% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 3,409 shares during the period. Finally, WCG Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,023,000. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of CBSH opened at $53.45 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.80 and its 200-day moving average is $53.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.76. Commerce Bancshares has a 12-month low of $40.91 and a 12-month high of $57.48.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $389.49 million. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 23.33% and a return on equity of 16.78%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CBSH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James raised shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.29.

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.