State Street (NYSE:STT) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

State Street (NYSE:STT) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

STT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of State Street from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of State Street from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $139.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of State Street from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on State Street from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.36.

State Street Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:STT opened at $98.20 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $95.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.05. State Street has a 52 week low of $70.20 and a 52 week high of $101.91. The company has a market cap of $28.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 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 period last year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that State Street will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other State Street news, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $10,878,784.74. This represents a 10.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John Plansky sold 13,859 shares of State Street stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,032,462.56. This represents a 20.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,460 shares of company stock valued at $2,499,860 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On State Street

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in State Street by 0.4% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 81,472 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,029,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in State Street by 1.8% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 184,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,634,000 after acquiring an additional 3,278 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in State Street in the second quarter valued at $248,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in State Street during the second quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of State Street by 202.7% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 993 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.