Wedmont Private Capital Acquires 186 Shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Comerica were worth $474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comerica by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 9,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Comerica by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Comerica by 134.0% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Comerica by 9.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Comerica by 96.2% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 32,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 15,758 shares during the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lowered shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Comerica from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised 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, thirteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comerica presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.14.

Comerica Trading Up 3.1 %

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

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.00%.

Comerica announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comerica

In related news, EVP Bruce Mitchell sold 7,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.20, for a total transaction of $470,480.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,021,821.60. This trade represents a 31.53 % decrease in their position. 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 the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,773 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.