Comerica (NYSE:CMA) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.05 EPS

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by ($0.05), Zacks reports. Comerica had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 11.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share.

Comerica Price Performance

Comerica stock opened at $66.25 on Wednesday. Comerica has a 12 month low of $45.32 and a 12 month high of $73.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.98 and its 200-day moving average is $60.76. 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56 and a beta of 1.26.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Comerica’s payout ratio is 71.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,730 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total value of $410,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,773 shares of the company’s stock, 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. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Comerica declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on CMA shares. StockNews.com upgraded Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens boosted their price target on Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Comerica from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Comerica from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Three 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.71.

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.