Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on State Street (NYSE:STT)

State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 12,480 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 751% compared to the average volume of 1,467 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On State Street

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its position 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 valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings 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 valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in State Street by 3.3% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,790 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

State Street Trading Down 0.1 %

State Street stock opened at $98.15 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $96.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.57. The company has a market capitalization of $28.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. State Street has a 52 week low of $70.20 and a 52 week high of $101.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

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

State Street Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on STT. StockNews.com downgraded State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of State Street from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of State Street from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of State Street from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $102.00 to $139.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.36.

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.