V Square Quantitative Management LLC Grows Stake in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 36.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Comerica were worth $51,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in Comerica by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new position in Comerica in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Comerica by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Comerica in the third quarter worth $42,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Comerica by 74.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 634 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CMA. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Comerica from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $51.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Compass Point upped their price target on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Comerica from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.57.

Comerica Price Performance

CMA stock opened at $67.13 on Tuesday. Comerica Incorporated has a 1 year low of $45.32 and a 1 year high of $73.45. The company has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.37 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.35 and a 200 day moving average of $62.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by ($0.05). Comerica had a return on equity of 12.04% and a net margin of 13.98%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.34 EPS for the current year.

Comerica declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.