Comerica Incorporated $CMA Shares Purchased by Azora Capital LP

Key Points

• Azora Capital LP increased its stake in Comerica Incorporated by 53.7% during Q1, holding 1,899,198 shares valued at approximately $112 million, which represents 7.6% of its total holdings.
• Comerica's latest quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $1.42, exceeding expectations, while the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share to be paid on October 1st.
• Several analysts upgraded their ratings on Comerica, with Jefferies raising its price target to $70.00, while the average target price among analysts is currently $64.40.

Azora Capital LP boosted its holdings in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA - Free Report) by 53.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,899,198 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 663,513 shares during the quarter. Comerica makes up about 7.6% of Azora Capital LP's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Azora Capital LP owned 1.45% of Comerica worth $112,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comerica during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Gen Wealth Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Comerica during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Comerica by 152.0% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 867 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in Comerica in the first quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Comerica by 19.4% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,777 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Comerica from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group set a $64.00 price target on shares of Comerica and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Comerica from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Comerica in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Comerica from $61.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Comerica presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.40.

Insider Activity at Comerica

In other Comerica news, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 2,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.03, for a total transaction of $140,763.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,424 shares of the company's stock, valued at $631,690.72. This represents a 18.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider James Mcgregor Carr sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.28, for a total value of $269,120.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 33,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,251,928.88. This represents a 10.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Comerica Price Performance

Shares of CMA opened at $70.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. Comerica Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $48.12 and a fifty-two week high of $73.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.26. The company has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 0.94.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $849.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $844.39 million. Comerica had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 14.92%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Comerica's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

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.

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