Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Sets New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $51.39 and last traded at $51.3370, with a volume of 427270 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $53.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CBSH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Commerce Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.29.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Up 0.8%

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.38. The company has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.62.

Shares of Commerce Bancshares are scheduled to split before the market opens on Tuesday, December 2nd. The 1.05-1 split was recently announced. The newly issued shares will be distributed to shareholders after the market closes on Monday, December 1st.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $448.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $447.04 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 15.73% and a net margin of 26.48%.The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Commerce Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commerce Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CBSH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,591,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $812,252,000 after purchasing an additional 151,785 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,752,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $403,502,000 after acquiring an additional 319,137 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,972,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $237,420,000 after acquiring an additional 202,758 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 7.2% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,643,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,942,000 after acquiring an additional 177,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 28.3% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,903,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,745,000 after acquiring an additional 420,053 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

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.