Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Comerica (NYSE:CMA) Stock Price

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) had its target price lowered by Morgan Stanley from $76.00 to $71.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

CMA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America lowered Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Comerica from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Comerica from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.33.

Comerica Stock Performance

NYSE:CMA opened at $62.48 on Thursday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.62 and a beta of 1.26. Comerica has a 1 year low of $45.32 and a 1 year high of $73.45.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 12.54% and a net margin of 11.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comerica will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

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

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of Comerica 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,885.90. This trade represents a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMA. State Street Corp lifted its position in Comerica by 2.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,977,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,745,000 after acquiring an additional 96,084 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Comerica by 5.5% during the third 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 during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Comerica by 31.3% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 574,516 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP increased its holdings in Comerica by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 2,230,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,621,000 after acquiring an additional 161,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Comerica by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,111,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,555,000 after purchasing an additional 29,661 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.