Empirical Finance LLC Sells 242 Shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Empirical Finance LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 5.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 242 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Comerica were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its stake in Comerica by 4.9% during the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 237,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,130,000 after purchasing an additional 11,049 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Comerica by 66.2% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 62,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,209,000 after buying an additional 25,040 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Comerica by 39.3% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 220,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,262,000 after acquiring an additional 62,269 shares during the period. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in Comerica during the second quarter worth $4,767,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Comerica by 1,159.3% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 16,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $920,000 after acquiring an additional 15,407 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,885.90. This represents a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of Comerica 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,326.79. This represents a 29.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,001 shares of company stock valued at $1,123,650 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Comerica Price Performance

Shares of CMA stock opened at $68.92 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Comerica Incorporated has a 52-week low of $42.55 and a 52-week high of $71.63. The stock has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.22.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.16. Comerica had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 11.17%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $806.49 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Comerica announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Comerica’s payout ratio is currently 71.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Comerica from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Comerica from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Comerica from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Two equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Comerica presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.86.

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.