Rafferty Asset Management LLC Purchases 11,038 Shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH - Free Report) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 129,563 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 11,038 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Commerce Bancshares worth $8,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 281,040 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $17,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,362 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $842,000. Procyon Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $200,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,225,491 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $824,080,000 after purchasing an additional 642,401 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,934 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,353,000 after buying an additional 17,400 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director June Mcallister Fowler sold 1,618 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.72, for a total value of $98,244.96. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,175 shares in the company, valued at $192,786. This represents a 33.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBSH has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.20.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

CBSH traded down $0.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $62.67. The company had a trading volume of 78,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 585,831. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $61.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.45. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.60. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.97 and a 12-month high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.05. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The business had revenue of $428.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.85 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Commerce Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.63%.

Commerce Bancshares 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.