Fulton Bank N.A. Takes Position in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU)

Fulton Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,181 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Community Bank System by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,037,367 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $355,486,000 after buying an additional 647,871 shares during the period. Eaton Vance Management boosted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 38.4% during the 3rd quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 917,873 shares of the bank’s stock worth $55,146,000 after acquiring an additional 254,734 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 52.6% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 393,620 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,648,000 after acquiring an additional 135,657 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,521,304 shares of the bank’s stock worth $391,801,000 after acquiring an additional 65,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Community Bank System by 42.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 202,491 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,814,000 after purchasing an additional 60,738 shares during the period. 71.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CBU has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Community Bank System in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Raymond James assumed coverage on Community Bank System in a research report on Tuesday, December 20th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Community Bank System in a research report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Community Bank System has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Brian R. Ace sold 4,148 shares of Community Bank System stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.54, for a total transaction of $251,119.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 63,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,814,685.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Community Bank System news, Director Brian R. Ace sold 4,148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.54, for a total value of $251,119.92. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 63,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,814,685.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sally A. Steele acquired 2,000 shares of Community Bank System stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $53.46 per share, for a total transaction of $106,920.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,585 shares in the company, valued at $245,114.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Community Bank System Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of CBU stock opened at $53.84 on Friday. Community Bank System, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.99 and a fifty-two week high of $72.86. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Community Bank System (NYSE:CBU – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. Community Bank System had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 26.77%. The business had revenue of $187.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Community Bank System, Inc. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community Bank System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. Community Bank System’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.87%.

About Community Bank System

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Community Bank System, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of retail, business, and municipal banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The Banking segment offers an array of lending and depository-related products and services to individuals, businesses, and municipal enterprises.