Atria Investments Inc Makes New $219,000 Investment in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CMA. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comerica by 323.9% in the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 63,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,799,000 after purchasing an additional 48,455 shares during the period. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Comerica by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 5,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comerica during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $240,000. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comerica in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $854,000. Finally, FSM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Comerica in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $215,000. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comerica Trading Up 3.2 %

CMA stock opened at $71.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.24. Comerica Incorporated has a 52 week low of $42.55 and a 52 week high of $71.63.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $806.49 million. Comerica had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 11.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.00%.

Comerica declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program 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. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Comerica from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Comerica from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $50.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America cut shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comerica presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comerica news, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total value of $410,995.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at $997,326.79. This represents a 29.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bruce Mitchell sold 7,564 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.20, for a total transaction of $470,480.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,428 shares in the company, valued at $1,021,821.60. This represents a 31.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,456 shares of company stock worth $977,287 over the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company 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.