Comerica (NYSE:CMA) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $71.99 and last traded at $71.99, with a volume of 352 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $71.09.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Comerica from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Comerica from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Comerica from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two research 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.43.

Comerica Trading Up 2.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.25. The firm has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 1.22.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.16. The company 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 prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 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 3.89%. Comerica’s payout ratio is 71.00%.

Comerica declared that its board has authorized a share 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total value of $410,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at $997,326.79. This represents a 29.18 % 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 Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total value of $95,811.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares in the company, valued at $600,885.90. This trade represents a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comerica

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Comerica by 105.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 182,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,031,000 after buying an additional 3,595,036 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Comerica by 51.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,045,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370,886 shares during the period. Samlyn Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Comerica in the second quarter valued at about $35,375,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Comerica by 390.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 761,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,628,000 after purchasing an additional 606,375 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Comerica by 31.3% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,408,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $144,312,000 after purchasing an additional 574,516 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

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.