Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Sells 1,807 Shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,807 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of Commerce Bancshares worth $4,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 84.0% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Commerce Bancshares by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

Insider Transactions at Commerce Bancshares

In related news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 22,175 shares in the company, valued at $1,513,222. This represents a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John W. Kemper sold 26,042 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total value of $1,752,105.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,258,583.12. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,434 shares of company stock worth $5,248,272 over the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ CBSH opened at $62.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.49 and a twelve month high of $72.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.47.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.48 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.275 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. 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.