Wedmont Private Capital Has $474,000 Stake in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Comerica were worth $474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Comerica by 134.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 856,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,309,000 after acquiring an additional 490,468 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new stake in Comerica in the second quarter worth $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. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Comerica by 390.6% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 761,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,628,000 after purchasing an additional 606,375 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Comerica from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Comerica from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Comerica from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Comerica presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.14.

Comerica Price Performance

Comerica stock opened at $65.00 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.23. Comerica Incorporated has a 12 month low of $45.32 and a 12 month high of $73.45. The company has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. Comerica’s payout ratio is 71.00%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total value of $410,995.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,326.79. The trade was a 29.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,885.90. This represents a 13.75 % 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 quarter. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.