Private Advisor Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 87.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,403 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,928 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in State Street were worth $825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of STT. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of State Street in the fourth quarter worth $272,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of State Street by 20.5% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,607,000 after purchasing an additional 12,707 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in State Street by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 74,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,289,000 after acquiring an additional 7,446 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in State Street during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $395,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in State Street by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 137,040 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,124,000 after acquiring an additional 20,183 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on STT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 price target (down from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of State Street from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of State Street from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at State Street

In related news, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.47, for a total transaction of $368,536.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,054,667.52. This trade represents a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of State Street stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $1,081,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,002,300. The trade was a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

State Street Stock Performance

State Street stock opened at $99.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. State Street Co. has a 1-year low of $70.20 and a 1-year high of $103.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $98.59 and its 200 day moving average is $93.61.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.27 billion. State Street had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.04 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that State Street Co. will post 9.68 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.89%.

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.