Fmr LLC Purchases 3,599 Shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Fmr LLC increased its position in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 11.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 35,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,599 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Comerica were worth $2,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Comerica in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Comerica in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Comerica by 39.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of Comerica in the 2nd quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comerica by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Comerica Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Comerica stock opened at $66.58 on Friday. Comerica Incorporated has a 52-week low of $45.32 and a 52-week high of $73.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.65 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.00%.

Comerica declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Comerica from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stephens raised their price objective on Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Comerica from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Comerica from $71.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.27.

Insider Activity at Comerica

In other news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total transaction of $95,811.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,730 shares in the company, valued at $600,885.90. This represents a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total value of $410,995.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,326.79. This represents a 29.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,456 shares of company stock worth $977,287. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Comerica 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.