Short Interest in State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) Decreases By 22.1%

State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 4,295,501 shares, a decline of 22.1% from the February 26th total of 5,516,313 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,322,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STT has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on State Street from $168.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of State Street in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Zacks Research cut State Street from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of State Street in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of State Street in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.83.

State Street Stock Performance

NYSE:STT opened at $122.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $34.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.43. State Street has a fifty-two week low of $72.81 and a fifty-two week high of $137.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $126.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.69.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 16th. The asset manager reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.57 billion. State Street had a net margin of 13.02% and a return on equity of 13.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that State Street will post 9.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. State Street’s payout ratio is 35.71%.

Insider Activity at State Street

In other news, EVP John Plansky sold 16,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.32, for a total value of $2,001,552.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 56,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,982,059.84. This represents a 22.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of State Street

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of STT. Regents of The University of California bought a new stake in State Street during the 3rd quarter worth $324,576,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in State Street by 11.7% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 208,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,139,000 after purchasing an additional 21,810 shares during the last quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in shares of State Street during the third quarter valued at about $2,622,000. AE Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of State Street during the third quarter valued at about $6,611,000. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of State Street by 49.2% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 127,984 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,847,000 after purchasing an additional 42,198 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About State Street

State Street Corporation is a global financial services company that provides a range of investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading services to institutional investors. Its principal activities include custody and fund administration, securities lending, performance and risk analytics, trading and execution services, and foreign exchange. The company also offers investment management through State Street Global Advisors, a major provider of exchange-traded funds and institutional investment strategies.

State Street serves a broad client base of asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds, endowments, and other institutions across North America, Europe, Asia and other global markets.