Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Shares Purchased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 35.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,003 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.05% of Commerce Bancshares worth $4,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CBSH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $86,327,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,675,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $228,991,000 after purchasing an additional 745,661 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $824,080,000 after purchasing an additional 642,401 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $91,524,000 after purchasing an additional 219,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Commerce Bancshares by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,594,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,364,000 after purchasing an additional 182,423 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CBSH shares. Raymond James cut Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Commerce Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total transaction of $70,696.64. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,513,222. The trade was a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Charles G. Kim sold 13,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $914,285.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 86,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,844,028.96. This trade represents a 13.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Commerce Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ CBSH opened at $56.88 on Friday. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.49 and a 12 month high of $72.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.12.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.06. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 25.24%. The company had revenue of $422.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is a boost from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.43%.

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.