UBS Group Initiates Coverage on Comerica (NYSE:CMA)

UBS Group began coverage on shares of Comerica (NYSE:CMA) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a sell rating and a $64.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Comerica from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Comerica from $71.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America cut Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Comerica from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.68.

Comerica Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of CMA stock opened at $64.38 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.28. Comerica has a twelve month low of $45.32 and a twelve month high of $73.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $8.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Comerica declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total transaction of $410,995.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at $997,326.79. This represents a 29.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total value of $95,811.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,885.90. The trade was a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comerica

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CMA. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in shares of Comerica during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,767,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Comerica by 158.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 20,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 12,454 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Comerica by 5.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,306,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $257,975,000 after purchasing an additional 226,285 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Comerica by 186.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 32,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 20,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comerica by 390.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 761,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,628,000 after buying an additional 606,375 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.