Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 111,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,901,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CMA. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Comerica by 6,085.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,778,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749,438 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Comerica by 390.6% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Comerica by 31.3% during 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 buying an additional 574,516 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Comerica by 134.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 856,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,309,000 after buying an additional 490,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in Comerica during the 3rd quarter worth $26,630,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CMA. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Comerica from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Comerica from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Comerica in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Comerica from $71.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Comerica from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.29.

Comerica Price Performance

Comerica stock opened at $57.75 on Monday. Comerica Incorporated has a 12-month low of $45.32 and a 12-month high of $73.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $63.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.25 by ($0.05). Comerica had a return on equity of 12.04% and a net margin of 13.98%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

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.