Peoples Financial Services CORP. Trims Stake in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Peoples Financial Services CORP. lowered its stake in shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,100 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 312 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP.’s holdings in Community Bank System were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CBU. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Community Bank System by 8.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,770,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,588,000 after purchasing an additional 142,909 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Community Bank System by 151.8% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 127,227 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,388,000 after purchasing an additional 76,703 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 99.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,647 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,367,000 after buying an additional 54,554 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 371.9% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 64,193 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,728,000 after buying an additional 50,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Community Bank System during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,551,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.79% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of Community Bank System stock opened at $61.47 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15 and a beta of 0.67. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 1-year low of $41.50 and a 1-year high of $73.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.05). Community Bank System had a return on equity of 10.52% and a net margin of 18.82%. The business had revenue of $188.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Community Bank System in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Community Bank System from $64.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.25.

Insider Activity at Community Bank System

In other Community Bank System news, Director John F. Whipple sold 3,937 shares of Community Bank System stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total value of $287,794.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $425,661.30. The trade was a 40.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Community Bank System Profile

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.