State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Stock Position in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,812 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 20,497 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.08% of Community Bank System worth $2,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Community Bank System by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,582,679 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,475,000 after acquiring an additional 91,165 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the 4th quarter valued at about $208,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 48,839 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Community Bank System during the fourth quarter worth about $30,870,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Community Bank System by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,121 shares of the bank’s stock worth $423,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares during the period. 73.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CBU has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Community Bank System in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James downgraded Community Bank System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Community Bank System presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.50.

Community Bank System Stock Down 1.9 %

CBU stock opened at $58.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.30. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.38 and a 12 month high of $63.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 0.64.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.14. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 15.90%. The firm had revenue of $183.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. Community Bank System’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Community Bank System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.86%.

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.