Comerica Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CMA)

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 39,100 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,329% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,736 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the company’s 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $997,326.79. This trade represents a 29.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comerica

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 valued at $206,468,000 after buying an additional 1,370,886 shares during the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comerica during the second quarter worth about $35,375,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comerica by 390.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position 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 valued at $144,312,000 after purchasing an additional 574,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Comerica by 311.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 663,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,845,000 after buying an additional 501,857 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CMA shares. Compass Point lifted their price objective on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Comerica from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comerica has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.27.

Comerica Stock Performance

NYSE CMA opened at $66.58 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Comerica has a 1 year low of $45.32 and a 1 year high of $73.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.65 and a beta of 1.23.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $806.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Comerica will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

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

Comerica announced that its Board of Directors 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.