Quest Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Quest Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 85.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,875 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Comerica were worth $221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Comerica by 105.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 182,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,031,000 after acquiring an additional 3,595,036 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Comerica by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,045,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,468,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370,886 shares in the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC acquired a new position in Comerica during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,375,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Comerica by 31.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 574,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Comerica by 311.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 663,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,845,000 after acquiring an additional 501,857 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comerica news, EVP Bruce Mitchell sold 7,564 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.20, for a total transaction of $470,480.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,021,821.60. The trade was a 31.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total value of $410,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $997,326.79. The trade was a 29.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,456 shares of company stock worth $977,287. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMA has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Comerica from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Comerica from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America cut shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Comerica from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $50.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.10.

Comerica Trading Down 0.4 %

CMA opened at $72.32 on Thursday. Comerica Incorporated has a 52-week low of $42.55 and a 52-week high of $73.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $63.68 and its 200-day moving average is $56.52.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.16. Comerica had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 12.54%. 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 earned $1.84 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comerica declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Comerica’s payout ratio is presently 71.00%.

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.