Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Comerica Incorporated $CMA

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in Comerica Incorporated by 235.5% in Q1, acquiring over 87,000 additional shares to reach a total ownership of approximately 0.09% of the company valued at $7.34 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Comerica, with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosting its stake by 548.9%, indicating strong institutional confidence in the financial services provider.
• Comerica recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, which represents an annual yield of 4.2% and a payout ratio of 54.41%.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA - Free Report) by 235.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,326 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 87,274 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Comerica worth $7,343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CMA. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 31.9% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 109,322 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,762,000 after purchasing an additional 26,415 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 5,343 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Comerica in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,787,000. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,811 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 4,639 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Comerica from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Comerica from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Comerica from $61.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Comerica from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the company from $50.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Comerica in a report on Monday, July 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.40.

Comerica Trading Down 0.3%

CMA traded down $0.2040 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $67.3760. 815,299 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,980,732. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Comerica Incorporated has a 1 year low of $48.12 and a 1 year high of $73.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $63.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.12. The firm has a market cap of $8.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.22 and a beta of 0.94.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.19. Comerica had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The company had revenue of $849.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $844.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comerica Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Comerica's payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Activity at Comerica

In other news, insider James Mcgregor Carr sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 33,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,251,928.88. This represents a 10.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 2,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.03, for a total transaction of $140,763.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,424 shares of the company's stock, valued at $631,690.72. This trade represents a 18.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.