Short Interest in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) Decreases By 14.5%

State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,120,000 shares, a drop of 14.5% from the August 31st total of 4,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on State Street from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of State Street from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of State Street from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of State Street in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of State Street from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, State Street currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.61.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STT. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of State Street in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in State Street in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Norwood Financial Corp acquired a new stake in State Street in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in State Street by 411.9% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 517 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of State Street during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

State Street Stock Performance

NYSE:STT opened at $88.20 on Friday. State Street has a 52 week low of $62.78 and a 52 week high of $89.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.48.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The asset manager reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. State Street had a return on equity of 11.78% and a net margin of 8.98%. State Street’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that State Street will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

State Street Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. This is a positive change from State Street’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.93%.

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.