Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Buys 13,784 Shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) by 42.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 46,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,784 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Comerica were worth $2,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CMA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Comerica by 51.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,045,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370,886 shares in the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new position in Comerica during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,375,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Comerica by 390.6% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 761,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,628,000 after buying an additional 606,375 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Comerica by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,408,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,312,000 after acquiring an additional 574,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Comerica by 311.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 663,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,845,000 after acquiring an additional 501,857 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CMA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Comerica from $71.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Comerica from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wedbush upgraded shares of Comerica from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Comerica from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Comerica from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.27.

Insider Transactions at Comerica

In other Comerica news, EVP James Harry Weber sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were 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 directly owns 15,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,326.79. The trade was a 29.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allysun C. Fleming sold 1,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.83, for a total transaction of $95,811.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,885.90. The trade was a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,456 shares of company stock valued at $977,287. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Comerica Trading Up 1.2 %

CMA opened at $66.58 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $66.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.65 and a beta of 1.23. Comerica Incorporated has a 52 week low of $45.32 and a 52 week high of $73.45.

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

Comerica Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. Comerica’s payout ratio is presently 71.00%.

Comerica announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.