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

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of 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. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 306,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 26,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Community Bank System by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,895 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Community Bank System by 1.8% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,930 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $705,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Community Bank System by 6.2% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,235 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 1.7% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 29,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,373,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.79% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System Price Performance

Shares of Community Bank System stock traded down $1.70 on Tuesday, reaching $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 quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $59.02 and its 200-day moving average is $50.84. Community Bank System has a one year low of $35.38 and a one year high of $63.95.

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

Community Bank System Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 3.26%. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CBU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of Community Bank System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.50.

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, 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.