Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Makes New Investment in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Comerica during the third quarter worth about $36,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Comerica by 39.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comerica during the second quarter worth about $56,000. Summit Securities Group LLC increased its position in shares of Comerica by 22.4% in the second quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Comerica by 19.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CMA. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. 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 note on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Comerica in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “sell” rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Bank of America lowered Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Comerica from $71.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.68.

Insider Activity at Comerica

In other news, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total transaction of $410,995.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,885.90. The trade was a 13.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Comerica Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:CMA opened at $61.16 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $66.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.46. The stock has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Incorporated has a 12 month low of $45.32 and a 12 month high of $73.45.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.49 million. Comerica had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 12.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

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

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