Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.57.

CMA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group started coverage on Comerica in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Comerica from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Comerica from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Comerica by 6,085.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,778,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,981,000 after acquiring an additional 1,749,438 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Comerica during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,419,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Comerica during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $64,150,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in Comerica by 31.3% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 574,516 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comerica Price Performance

NYSE CMA opened at $63.62 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Comerica has a 1 year low of $45.32 and a 1 year high of $73.45. The company has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a PE ratio of 12.67 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.03.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by ($0.05). Comerica had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 12.04%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Comerica will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Comerica announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio is 56.57%.

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.