Swiss National Bank Trims Stake in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Swiss National Bank lessened its stake in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 103,100 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Community Bank System were worth $5,987,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Community Bank System during the second quarter worth $76,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Community Bank System by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,816 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 741 shares during the period. IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Community Bank System in the 2nd quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Community Bank System in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James upgraded Community Bank System from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

Community Bank System Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Community Bank System stock opened at $70.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Community Bank System, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.50 and a twelve month high of $73.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $61.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.84.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU) last released 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). Community Bank System had a net margin of 18.82% and a return on equity of 10.52%. The firm had revenue of $188.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John F. Whipple sold 3,937 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total value of $287,794.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,823 shares in the company, valued at $425,661.30. This represents a 40.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.89% of the company’s stock.

Community Bank System 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.