Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,100,000 shares, an increase of 14.5% from the June 30th total of 3,580,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,460,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comerica

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Comerica by 105.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 182,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,031,000 after acquiring an additional 3,595,036 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Comerica during the fourth quarter valued at about $80,691,000. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in Comerica during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,548,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in Comerica by 129.3% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,930,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,716,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,330 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Comerica by 60.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,605,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $145,444,000 after acquiring an additional 984,391 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price target on shares of Comerica in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Comerica from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays decreased their target price on Comerica from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Comerica in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $59.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Comerica from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.95.

Comerica Stock Performance

Comerica stock opened at $53.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.56. The company has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 1.25. Comerica has a fifty-two week low of $37.40 and a fifty-two week high of $58.50.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $812.79 million. Comerica had a return on equity of 15.01% and a net margin of 12.15%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.01 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Comerica will post 5.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.46%.

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.