Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Short Interest Up 7.8% in October

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,340,000 shares, a growth of 7.8% from the October 15th total of 2,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 316,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.4 days. Approximately 4.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Community Bank System

In related news, COO Dimitar Karaivanov purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $44.50 per share, with a total value of $44,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 15,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $679,292.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Dimitar Karaivanov purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $44.50 per share, with a total value of $44,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 15,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $679,292.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey M. Levy bought 1,300 shares of Community Bank System stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $38.60 per share, with a total value of $50,180.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 5,924 shares in the company, valued at $228,666.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 4,710 shares of company stock valued at $194,382. 1.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Community Bank System by 0.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,943,008 shares of the bank’s stock worth $557,203,000 after buying an additional 50,524 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,521,304 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $391,801,000 after purchasing an additional 65,454 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 9.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,690,269 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $301,154,000 after purchasing an additional 470,564 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 328.7% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,681,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $125,722,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056,276 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 8.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,078,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $87,732,000 after purchasing an additional 167,729 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.39% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of CBU traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $45.51. The company had a trading volume of 318,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 369,570. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31 and a beta of 0.63. Community Bank System has a 1 year low of $35.38 and a 1 year high of $65.48.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $175.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.53 million. Community Bank System had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Community Bank System will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

Community Bank System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 14th. Community Bank System’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBU has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James dropped their target price on Community Bank System from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Community Bank System from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Community Bank System in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

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, 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.