Comerica Incorporated (CMA) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.71 on January 1st

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 5th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.71 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, January 1st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th.

Comerica has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.5% per year over the last three years. Comerica has a payout ratio of 51.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Comerica to earn $5.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.6%.

Comerica Stock Up 11.1 %

Shares of CMA opened at $70.31 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.22. Comerica has a 52 week low of $40.41 and a 52 week high of $70.38.

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

Comerica declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comerica news, EVP Christine M. Moore sold 2,545 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.51, for a total transaction of $146,362.95. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,605,104.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of Comerica stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total transaction of $410,995.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $997,326.79. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christine M. Moore sold 2,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.51, for a total transaction of $146,362.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,605,104.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,609 shares of company stock valued at $1,027,839 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Comerica from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Comerica from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comerica has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.81.

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.