Community Financial System (CBU) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Community Financial System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) is a bank holding company headquartered in DeWitt, New York, operating through its subsidiary Community Bank. It provides a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, municipalities, and agricultural clients across central and northern New York, northeastern Pennsylvania, and western Massachusetts.

The company’s core offerings include deposit products such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. On the lending side, Community Financial System extends mortgages, home equity lines of credit, consumer installment loans, and commercial loans, including specialized agricultural financing to support local farmers and agribusinesses.

Beyond traditional banking, Community Financial System delivers wealth management and trust services through its private banking division. Clients benefit from investment management, retirement planning, estate administration, and insurance solutions. The company also offers treasury management and cash management services designed to optimize working capital and streamline receivables and payables for business clients.

Founded in 1866 as Onondaga County Savings Bank, the organization has grown through strategic branch expansion and targeted acquisitions. Its network includes over 75 branches, an ATM network, and robust digital banking platforms for online and mobile access. Community Financial System is led by President and CEO Emanuel J. Gerace, under whose guidance the company continues to emphasize community engagement and local economic development.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $59.26 to $60.17
• 50-Day Range: $53.98 to $60.08
• 52-Week Range: $49.00 to $73.39
• Volume: 292,266 shs
• Average Volume: 243,786 shs
• Market Capitalization: $3.15 billion
• P/E Ratio: 16.49
• Dividend Yield: 3.09%
• Price Target: $71.00
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Community Financial System Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Community Financial System scored higher than 91% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 115th out of 906 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Community Financial System has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.67, and is based on no buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Community Financial System has received no research coverage in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 14.83%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Community Financial System are expected to grow by 14.83% in the coming year, from $4.18 to $4.80 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Community Financial System is 16.49, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 25.67.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Community Financial System is 16.49, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 20.07.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Community Financial System has a P/B Ratio of 1.77. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.99% of the float of Community Financial System has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Community Financial System has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.4.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Community Financial System has recently increased by 5.41%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Community Financial System pays a meaningful dividend of 3.09%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Community Financial System has been increasing its dividend for 33 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Community Financial System is 50.97%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Community Financial System will have a dividend payout ratio of 38.33% next year. This indicates that Community Financial System will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 3.7 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.58

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.99% of the float of Community Financial System has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Community Financial System has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.4.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Community Financial System has recently increased by 5.41%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• News Sentiment: N/A

News Sentiment

Community Financial System has a news sentiment score of 0.67. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 1 news article for Community Financial System this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 1 people have added Community Financial System to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Community Financial System insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 1.01% of the stock of Community Financial System is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

73.79% of the stock of Community Financial System is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

CBU Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have CBU shares performed this year?

Community Financial System's stock was trading at $61.68 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, CBU shares have decreased by 3.5% and is now trading at $59.52.

How were Community Financial System's earnings last quarter?

Community Financial System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April, 29th. The bank reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Community Financial System's major shareholders?

Top institutional shareholders of Community Financial System include Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY (0.01%). Insiders that own company stock include Mark J Bolus, Brian R Ace, Sally A Steele, Dimitar Karaivanov, Jeffrey M Levy, John F Whipple and Kerrie D Macpherson.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Community Financial System?

Shares of CBU stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Community Financial System own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Community Financial System investors own include JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Tesla (TSLA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Meta Platforms (META), NVIDIA (NVDA), Visa (V) and Netflix (NFLX).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 4/29/2025
• Record date for 7/10 Dividend: 6/13/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 7/10 Dividend: 6/13/2025
• Today: 7/10/2025
• Dividend Payable: 7/10/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 7/22/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: FIN - MISC SVCS
• Sub-Industry: Regional Banks
• Current Symbol: NYSE:CBU
• CIK: 723188
• Web: www.cbna.com
• Phone: (315) 445-2282
• Fax: 315-445-0904
• Employees: 2,918
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Community Financial System: $71.00
• High Price Target: $76.00
• Low Price Target: $67.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +19.3%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.67
• Research Coverage: 3 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $3.61
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 16.49
• Forward P/E Ratio: 14.24
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $182.48 million
• Net Margins: 19.89%
• Pretax Margin: 25.79%
• Return on Equity: 10.98%
• Return on Assets: 1.18%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.32
• Current Ratio: 0.76
• Quick Ratio: 0.76

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $940.71 million
• Price / Sales: 3.34
• Cash Flow: $4.22 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 14.09
• Book Value: $33.54 per share
• Price / Book: 1.77

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 52,850,000
• Free Float: 52,317,000
• Market Cap: $3.15 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.78