Comerica (NYSE:CMA) Downgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to Neutral

The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Comerica (NYSE:CMA) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $71.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on CMA. Bank of America lowered Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Stephens increased their target price on Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $51.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.14.

Comerica Stock Performance

Shares of CMA stock opened at $62.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.54 and a 200-day moving average of $59.77. The company has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Comerica has a 52 week low of $45.32 and a 52 week high of $73.45.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.49 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Comerica will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Comerica declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio is 71.00%.

Insider Transactions at Comerica

In other Comerica news, EVP Bruce Mitchell sold 7,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.20, for a total transaction of $470,480.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,021,821.60. This represents a 31.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 worth $977,287 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CMA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Comerica by 51.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,045,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,468,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370,886 shares in the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comerica during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,375,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Comerica by 390.6% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 761,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,628,000 after purchasing an additional 606,375 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Comerica by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,408,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,312,000 after purchasing an additional 574,516 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Comerica by 134.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 856,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,309,000 after buying an additional 490,468 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.