Zacks Investment Management Acquires 575 Shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 575 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Comerica were worth $776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CMA. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Comerica by 364.5% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,112 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 2,442 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in Comerica by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 125,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,162,000 after purchasing an additional 19,522 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Comerica by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 955,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,268,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Comerica by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,977,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,745,000 after buying an additional 96,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 23.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 264,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,860,000 after buying an additional 49,861 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CMA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Comerica from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Comerica from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Comerica from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.27.

Comerica Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMA opened at $67.64 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $8.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.23. Comerica Incorporated has a 1-year low of $45.32 and a 1-year high of $73.45.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Research analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.00%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total value of $95,811.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares in the company, valued at $600,885.90. The trade was a 13.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total value of $410,995.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $997,326.79. The trade was a 29.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.