Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.275 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. This is a positive change from Commerce Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Commerce Bancshares has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.0% per year over the last three years. Commerce Bancshares has a dividend payout ratio of 26.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Commerce Bancshares to earn $4.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.2%.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of CBSH stock remained flat at $66.80 during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 891,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 545,460. Commerce Bancshares has a one year low of $47.09 and a one year high of $72.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.97.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $422.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.83.

Insider Activity

In other Commerce Bancshares news, EVP Kevin G. Barth sold 24,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 45,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,456.66. This trade represents a 35.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman David W. Kemper sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $311,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 23,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,642,244.50. This represents a 15.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,990 shares of company stock valued at $2,475,680. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.