Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) Announces $0.71 Quarterly Dividend

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Comerica has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.5% annually over the last three years. Comerica has a payout ratio of 48.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Comerica to earn $5.80 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 49.0%.

Comerica Price Performance

Comerica stock opened at $63.62 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $64.38 and a 200-day moving average of $63.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.67 and a beta of 1.25. Comerica has a 52-week low of $45.32 and a 52-week high of $73.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) last posted 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. As a group, analysts predict that Comerica will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMA has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Comerica from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI boosted 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. Compass Point boosted their target price on shares of Comerica from $64.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Comerica to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.57.

Comerica declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.