Short Interest in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Decreases By 8.0%

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,260,000 shares, a decline of 8.0% from the August 31st total of 1,370,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 306,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James lowered Community Bank System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Community Bank System in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Community Bank System currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.50.

Institutional Trading of Community Bank System

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Community Bank System in the fourth quarter worth $30,870,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Community Bank System by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,121 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Community Bank System during the 4th quarter valued at about $14,612,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Community Bank System by 37,162.5% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,981 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 77,817 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,055,000 after purchasing an additional 15,221 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.79% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Stock Performance

CBU traded down $1.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $56.38. 176,653 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 288,906. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Community Bank System has a 12 month low of $35.38 and a 12 month high of $63.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73 and a beta of 0.64.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $183.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.05 million. Community Bank System had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Community Bank System will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Community Bank System Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Community Bank System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is 57.86%.

About Community Bank System

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.