Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 1,289,255 Shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its holdings in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 90.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 142,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,289,255 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Comerica were worth $8,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMA. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Comerica during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Comerica during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Comerica by 39.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Comerica by 2,723.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Comerica by 50.2% during the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on CMA. Barclays boosted their target price on Comerica from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson increased their target price on Comerica from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens lifted their price target on Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America lowered shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.43.

Comerica Stock Up 3.2 %

Comerica stock opened at $71.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.78 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Comerica Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $42.55 and a fifty-two week high of $71.63.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.16. Comerica had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.49 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.00%.

Comerica announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Comerica

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total transaction of $95,811.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,885.90. This represents a 13.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total value of $410,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at $997,326.79. This represents a 29.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Comerica Company Profile

Comerica Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services. The company operates through Commercial Bank, Retail Bank, Wealth Management, and Finance segments. The Commercial Bank segment offers various products and services, including commercial loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, payment solutions, card services, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services for small and middle market businesses, multinational corporations, and governmental entities.