OLD National Bancorp IN Lowers Stock Position in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

OLD National Bancorp IN cut its position in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 223,472 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,326 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN owned approximately 0.17% of Comerica worth $13,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Comerica by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,977,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,745,000 after buying an additional 96,084 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 worth $257,975,000 after acquiring an additional 226,285 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Comerica by 31.3% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,408,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,312,000 after acquiring an additional 574,516 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP boosted its position in Comerica by 7.8% in the third quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 2,230,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,621,000 after purchasing an additional 161,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Comerica by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,111,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,555,000 after purchasing an additional 29,661 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CMA. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Comerica from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Comerica in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $64.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America cut shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of Comerica 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,885.90. The trade was a 13.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Comerica Trading Up 2.8 %

Comerica stock opened at $65.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Comerica Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $45.32 and a fifty-two week high of $73.45. The stock has a market cap of $8.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.14.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by ($0.05). Comerica had a return on equity of 12.04% and a net margin of 13.98%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. Comerica’s payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

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

About Comerica

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.