Community Financial System (NYSE:CBU) Downgraded to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Community Financial System (NYSE:CBU) has been downgraded from a "hold" to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a significant negative outlook on the stock's performance.
• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on CBU shares from $69.00 to $67.00, also labeling the stock as a "market perform."
• In its latest earnings report, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share, falling short of analysts' expectations and showing an annual revenue increase of 8.4%.

Community Financial System (NYSE:CBU - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Community Financial System from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd.

Community Financial System Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CBU traded up $0.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $52.80. The company had a trading volume of 84,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 228,163. The firm's fifty day moving average is $56.37 and its 200 day moving average is $58.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39 and a beta of 0.80. Community Financial System has a twelve month low of $49.44 and a twelve month high of $73.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Community Financial System (NYSE:CBU - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $199.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.93 million. Community Financial System had a net margin of 19.91% and a return on equity of 10.71%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Community Financial System will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBU. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Community Financial System in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,779,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new position in Community Financial System in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,368,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Community Financial System by 210.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 348,405 shares of the bank's stock worth $21,490,000 after purchasing an additional 236,028 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Community Financial System during the 1st quarter worth $9,294,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Community Financial System by 80.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 339,696 shares of the bank's stock worth $19,315,000 after purchasing an additional 151,189 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.79% of the company's stock.

About Community Financial System

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.