Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $30.63 Million Stock Holdings in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 346,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,052 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of State Street worth $30,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on State Street from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of State Street from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of State Street from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on State Street from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, State Street currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.36.

State Street Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of STT stock opened at $99.27 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. State Street Co. has a fifty-two week low of $70.20 and a fifty-two week high of $101.91. The company has a market cap of $29.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $95.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.38.

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

State Street Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other State Street news, EVP John Plansky sold 13,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,032,462.56. This represents a 20.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of State Street stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.97, for a total transaction of $1,224,625.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 111,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,878,784.74. This trade represents a 10.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,460 shares of company stock valued at $2,499,860 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

About State Street

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.