Here’s Why Aristotle Capital Value Equity Strategy Decided to Sell Commerce Bancshares (CBSH)

1 month ago 14

Soumya Eswaran

Wed, February 4, 2026 astatine 6:56 AM CST 3 min read

Aristotle Capital Management, LLC, an concern absorption company, released its “Value Equity Strategy” fourth-quarter 2025 capitalist letter. A transcript of the missive tin beryllium downloaded here. U.S. equity markets deed caller all-time highs successful Q4 2025, with the S&P 500 Index up 2.66% and the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index rising 1.10%. Value stocks outperformed maturation stocks, and the U.S. system showed resilience. Artificial quality was a large theme, with implicit 300 S&P 500 companies mentioning "AI" successful net calls, boosting mega-cap tech stocks. However, concerns arose astir AI gross circularity, superior spending, and semipermanent concern returns. Against this backdrop, the Composite returned 1.45% axenic gross of fees (0.95% nett of fees), lagging the Russell 1000 Value Index’s 3.8% summation and the S&P 500 Index’s 2.66% gain. Please reappraisal the Strategy’s apical 5 holdings to summation insights into their cardinal selections for 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 capitalist letter, Aristotle Capital Value Equity Strategy highlighted stocks similar Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH). Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) is simply a starring banking institution that the strategy sold successful the quarter. On February 3, 2026, Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) banal closed astatine $53.59 per share. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) delivered a -0.24% instrumentality successful the past month, and its shares are down 17.69% implicit the past 12 months. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) has a marketplace capitalization of $7.897 billion.

Aristotle Capital Value Equity Strategy stated the pursuing regarding Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) successful its 4th fourth 2025 capitalist letter:

"We archetypal invested successful Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH), the Kansas City-based bank, successful the 4th fourth of 2019. We were attracted to the bank’s conservatively tally franchise, disciplined attack to credit, well-diversified gross premix with a meaningful publication from fee-based businesses, and long-tenured absorption squad that has historically operated with a “private company” mindset. At the clip of purchase, we identified respective catalysts, including continued indebtedness growth—particularly successful halfway Kansas markets—prudent disbursal management, sustained beardown recognition underwriting, and the accretive deployment of excess superior done dividends and stock repurchases. Over our holding period, Commerce executed consistently against these objectives, demonstrating resilience done aggregate operating environments portion maintaining beardown recognition quality, disciplined outgo power and dependable superior returns, including a agelong past of dividend increases. As these catalysts played out, we chose to merchantability our presumption and redeployed the proceeds into what we presumption arsenic a much charismatic concern accidental successful Wells Fargo, which we purchased successful the 3rd 4th of 2025."