Morgan Stanley Upgrades State Street (NYSE:STT) to “Overweight”

State Street (NYSE:STT) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $139.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous target price of $102.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 38.96% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on STT. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of State Street from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on State Street from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on State Street from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.32.

State Street Price Performance

STT stock opened at $100.03 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $93.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.69. State Street has a 52-week low of $70.20 and a 52-week high of $100.35.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.14. State Street had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 9.87%. The business had revenue of $3.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that State Street will post 8.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at State Street

In other State Street news, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.97, for a total value of $1,224,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 111,042 shares in the company, valued at $10,878,784.74. This represents a 10.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Plansky sold 13,859 shares of State Street stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.32, for a total value of $1,265,603.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,032,462.56. The trade was a 20.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,460 shares of company stock worth $2,499,860 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of State Street

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its holdings in State Street by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,283 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of State Street by 5.4% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. grew its position in shares of State Street by 1.8% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 8,332 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in State Street by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in State Street by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,790 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

State Street Company Profile

State Street Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of financial products and services to institutional investors worldwide. The company offers investment servicing products and services, including custody, accounting, regulatory reporting, investor, and performance and analytics; middle office products, such as IBOR, transaction management, loans, cash, derivatives and collateral, record keeping, and client reporting and investment analytics; finance leasing; foreign exchange, and brokerage and other trading services; securities finance and enhanced custody products; deposit and short-term investment facilities; investment manager and alternative investment manager operations outsourcing; performance, risk, and compliance analytics; and financial data management to support institutional investors.