Comerica Incorporated Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.71 (NYSE:CMA)

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%.

Comerica has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.5% annually over the last three years. Comerica has a payout ratio of 48.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Comerica to earn $5.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.0%.

Comerica Stock Performance

Shares of Comerica stock traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $64.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,901,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,073,075. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.94. Comerica has a one year low of $45.32 and a one year high of $73.45. The stock has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 1.25.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share 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 company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Comerica will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CMA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Comerica from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Comerica from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Comerica from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Comerica from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comerica presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.57.

Comerica declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.