Paragon Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Paragon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 40,663 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,591 shares during the period. Commerce Bancshares makes up 1.4% of Paragon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Paragon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Commerce Bancshares were worth $2,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 27,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after buying an additional 1,199 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 60,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 10,064 shares in the last quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Commerce Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in Commerce Bancshares by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 7,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commerce Bancshares

In other Commerce Bancshares news, VP David L. Orf sold 1,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.24, for a total value of $70,696.64. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,513,222. This trade represents a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total value of $1,642,912.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,456.66. The trade was a 35.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,434 shares of company stock valued at $5,248,272 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CBSH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James cut Commerce Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.17.

Commerce Bancshares Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of CBSH opened at $61.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.43. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.42 and a twelve month high of $72.75.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $422.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.48 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.43%.

Commerce Bancshares Profile

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.