Comerica Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CMA)

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 12,497 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 139% compared to the average volume of 5,234 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus lowered shares of Comerica from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on Comerica from $49.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. TheStreet raised shares of Comerica from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Comerica from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Comerica from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.67.

Comerica Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Comerica stock opened at $49.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Comerica has a 1-year low of $28.40 and a 1-year high of $57.39. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $51.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.14. The company has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.74 and a beta of 1.27.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $826.07 million. Comerica had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 16.71%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Comerica will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Comerica Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Comerica’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.10%.

Insider Activity

In other Comerica news, EVP Cassandra M. Mckinney sold 1,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.64, for a total value of $88,298.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $454,276.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Cassandra M. Mckinney sold 1,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.64, for a total transaction of $88,298.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,314 shares in the company, valued at $454,276.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Wendy Bridges sold 3,034 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.74, for a total value of $160,013.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $920,840.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comerica by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,878,129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $941,968,000 after acquiring an additional 676,959 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Comerica by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,313,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $578,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145,951 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Comerica by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,675,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $550,764,000 after buying an additional 284,884 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Comerica by 1,192.2% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,878,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,405,000 after buying an additional 3,578,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Comerica by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,343,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $186,580,000 after acquiring an additional 48,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

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.