Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases New Holdings in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 10,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $668,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CBSH. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,396,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,951,000 after buying an additional 163,782 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,468,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,524,000 after buying an additional 219,826 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 707,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,006,000 after buying an additional 106,316 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 474,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,244,000 after buying an additional 21,922 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 391,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,421,000 after buying an additional 29,032 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of CBSH opened at $64.82 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.78 and its 200-day moving average is $64.59. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.89 and a 12 month high of $72.75. The firm has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.80.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The business had revenue of $422.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.48 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Commerce Bancshares’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.43%.

Insider Activity at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $311,490.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 23,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,642,244.50. This trade represents a 15.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $914,285.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 86,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,844,028.96. The trade was a 13.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 86,016 shares of company stock worth $5,768,576. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on CBSH shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.83.

About Commerce Bancshares

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.