Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) Shares Sold by Entropy Technologies LP

Entropy Technologies LP decreased its position in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 76.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,952 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in Comerica were worth $579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in Comerica by 4.9% in the 2nd 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 worth $3,209,000 after purchasing an additional 25,040 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Comerica by 39.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 220,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,262,000 after purchasing an additional 62,269 shares during the period. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Comerica during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,767,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Comerica by 1,159.3% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 16,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $920,000 after buying an additional 15,407 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comerica

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,326.79. This trade represents a 29.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,001 shares of company stock worth $1,123,650 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CMA. StockNews.com raised shares of Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Comerica from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Comerica from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $50.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Comerica from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.81.

Comerica Stock Performance

NYSE:CMA opened at $70.09 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.61 and its 200-day moving average is $55.51. Comerica Incorporated has a 52-week low of $42.55 and a 52-week high of $71.63. 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 market cap of $9.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Comerica declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 4.05%. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.00%.

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.