DA Davidson Has Bearish Forecast for Comerica Q4 Earnings

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) – Equities research analysts at DA Davidson cut their Q4 2024 EPS estimates for shares of Comerica in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson analyst P. Winter now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $1.25 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.31. DA Davidson has a “Neutral” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Comerica’s current full-year earnings is $5.37 per share.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 EPS.

CMA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Comerica from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Compass Point raised their price target on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush raised Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comerica currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.68.

Comerica Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of CMA opened at $61.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29 and a beta of 1.23. Comerica has a 12 month low of $45.32 and a 12 month high of $73.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $66.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.31. 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 announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total value 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 trade represents a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,456 shares of company stock worth $977,287. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comerica

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Comerica by 51.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,045,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370,886 shares in the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Comerica during the 2nd quarter worth $35,375,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Comerica by 390.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 761,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,628,000 after acquiring an additional 606,375 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Comerica by 31.3% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 574,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Comerica by 311.2% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 663,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,845,000 after acquiring an additional 501,857 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% 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.