Stone House Investment Management LLC Buys 797 Shares of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 51.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,360 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 797 shares during the quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Community Bank System were worth $137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBU. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Community Bank System in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $76,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Community Bank System by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,816 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Community Bank System by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $162,000 after buying an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Community Bank System during the 2nd quarter valued at $212,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Community Bank System by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,895 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. 73.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Community Bank System news, Director John F. Whipple sold 3,937 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total transaction of $287,794.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $425,661.30. This represents a 40.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CBU shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Community Bank System in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

Shares of CBU stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.23. 12,896 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 281,070. Community Bank System, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.50 and a 12 month high of $73.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $62.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84 and a beta of 0.62.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last issued its 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). The firm had revenue of $188.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.35 million. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 10.52% and a net margin of 18.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.32%.

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.