444,500 Shares in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) Purchased by Primecap Management Co. CA

Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 444,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,630,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CMA. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comerica in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Comerica in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 39.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Comerica by 2,723.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Comerica by 50.2% in the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CMA. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Comerica from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stephens boosted their price objective on Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Comerica from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research 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. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.43.

Insider Activity at Comerica

In related news, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total transaction 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 $997,326.79. This represents a 29.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total value of $95,811.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,730 shares in the company, valued at $600,885.90. The trade was a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287 over the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Comerica Stock Up 1.8 %

CMA opened at $69.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.10. Comerica Incorporated has a 1-year low of $42.55 and a 1-year high of $71.63. The stock has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s payout ratio is currently 71.00%.

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

About Comerica

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.