Easterly Investment Partners LLC Buys 48,455 Shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 323.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,455 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Comerica were worth $3,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,834,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $93,621,000 after acquiring an additional 19,068 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,533,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,288,000 after acquiring an additional 130,458 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Comerica by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,431,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,077,000 after purchasing an additional 87,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Comerica by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 923,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,756,000 after purchasing an additional 160,103 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush raised Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $52.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Comerica from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Comerica from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Comerica from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $50.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Comerica from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comerica currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comerica news, EVP Bruce Mitchell sold 7,564 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,021,821.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Bruce Mitchell sold 7,564 shares of the company’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 value of $470,480.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,428 shares in the company, valued at $1,021,821.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christine M. Moore sold 2,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.51, for a total value of $146,362.95. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,605,104.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 16,609 shares of company stock worth $1,027,839. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Comerica Stock Performance

Comerica stock traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $69.27. 333,313 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,143,010. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.90. 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 Incorporated has a 1 year low of $40.41 and a 1 year high of $70.38.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.49 million. Comerica had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 11.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. Comerica’s payout ratio is 71.00%.

Comerica declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.