Comerica (NYSE:CMA) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Comerica (NYSE:CMA) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $71.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on CMA. StockNews.com raised shares of Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Comerica from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Comerica from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.14.

Comerica Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of CMA stock opened at $62.59 on Tuesday. Comerica has a 52-week low of $45.32 and a 52-week high of $73.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.54 and its 200 day moving average is $59.77. 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 $8.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.26.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.16. Comerica had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 11.17%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $806.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Comerica will post 5.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comerica declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.00%.

Insider Transactions at Comerica

In other Comerica news, EVP Bruce Mitchell sold 7,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.20, for a total transaction of $470,480.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,021,821.60. This trade represents a 31.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total transaction of $95,811.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,885.90. This trade represents a 13.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Comerica by 134.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 856,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,309,000 after purchasing an additional 490,468 shares during the period. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new stake in shares of Comerica in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,767,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comerica by 158.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 20,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,218,000 after buying an additional 12,454 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Comerica by 5.5% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 226,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Comerica by 390.6% during the third 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 last quarter. 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.