Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Invests $365,000 in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of State Street by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,410,077 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,997,806,000 after buying an additional 146,048 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in State Street by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,434,030 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $698,663,000 after acquiring an additional 29,190 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in State Street by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,031,661 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $467,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,430,237 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in State Street by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,935,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $373,551,000 after acquiring an additional 469,309 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of State Street by 4.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,624,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $309,677,000 after purchasing an additional 180,093 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on STT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of State Street from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of State Street from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Argus raised their price objective on shares of State Street from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on State Street from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of State Street in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, State Street currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.04.

Insider Activity

In other State Street news, CFO Eric W. Aboaf sold 12,000 shares of State Street stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.90, for a total transaction of $886,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,015,755.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other State Street news, CFO Eric W. Aboaf sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.90, for a total transaction of $886,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,015,755.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Anthony Bisegna sold 4,258 shares of State Street stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.64, for a total value of $313,559.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,717,873.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,864 shares of company stock worth $1,390,597 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

State Street Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE STT opened at $73.04 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. State Street Co. has a 52-week low of $62.78 and a 52-week high of $79.90.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The asset manager reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.21. State Street had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 9.62%. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. State Street’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that State Street Co. will post 7.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.69%.

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.