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

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Comerica from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $51.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America lowered Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.43.

Comerica Stock Up 2.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity 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 stock has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 1.22.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. Comerica’s payout ratio is 71.00%.

Comerica announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Comerica

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,885.90. This represents a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Comerica by 2.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,977,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,745,000 after purchasing an additional 96,084 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Comerica by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,306,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $257,975,000 after buying an additional 226,285 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Comerica by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,045,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,468,000 after buying an additional 1,370,886 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings 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 valued at $144,312,000 after buying an additional 574,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Azora Capital LP grew its holdings in Comerica by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 2,230,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,621,000 after buying an additional 161,181 shares in the last quarter. 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.