Comerica (NYSE:CMA) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Comerica (NYSE:CMA) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $73.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $51.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CMA. Stephens lifted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Comerica from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Comerica from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Comerica from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Comerica from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comerica presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.86.

Comerica Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE CMA opened at $68.92 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.89 and a 200-day moving average of $55.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.22. Comerica has a 52 week low of $42.55 and a 52 week high of $71.63. 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 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 business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Comerica will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Comerica announced that its board has authorized 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.00%.

Insider Activity at Comerica

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of Comerica 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,885.90. The trade was a 13.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $470,480.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,428 shares in the company, valued at $1,021,821.60. The trade was a 31.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,001 shares of company stock valued at $1,123,650 in the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 223,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,315,000 after purchasing an additional 29,640 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 9,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 41.6% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 99,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 29,366 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 99.4% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 15,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 7,798 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comerica Company 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.