Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. Buys Shares of 139,547 Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 139,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,360,000. Comerica accounts for 1.6% of Stieven Capital Advisors L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comerica during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Comerica during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Comerica by 39.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Comerica by 2,723.3% during 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 shares of Comerica by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Comerica Price Performance

Shares of Comerica stock opened at $68.92 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.67. Comerica Incorporated has a twelve month low of $42.55 and a twelve month high of $71.63. The firm has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.00%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CMA. 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. 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. Wedbush upgraded shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Comerica from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two 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 data from MarketBeat, Comerica currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.86.

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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,885.90. The trade was a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $997,326.79. This 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.

Comerica 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.