Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,103 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,523 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.05% of Community Bank System worth $1,733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Community Bank System by 99.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 478 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,816 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,774 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Community Bank System by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the bank’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Community Bank System during the 4th quarter worth $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.79% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of CBU stock opened at $63.23 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $63.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.69. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 1-year low of $41.50 and a 1-year high of $73.39. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, 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, January 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $196.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.95 million. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 19.40%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CBU has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler started coverage on Community Bank System in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Community Bank System from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jeffrey M. Levy sold 1,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total value of $74,953.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $431,443.22. This represents a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.89% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Company 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.