State Street (NYSE:STT) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of State Street (NYSE:STT) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded State Street from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th. Argus increased their target price on State Street from $140.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore set a $158.00 target price on State Street and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America upgraded State Street from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $143.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $144.00 price target on shares of State Street in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, State Street currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.00.

State Street Trading Down 0.8%

State Street stock opened at $151.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. State Street has a 12 month low of $85.05 and a 12 month high of $156.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.92. The firm has a market cap of $41.90 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.37.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.20. State Street had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 13.47%.The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that State Street will post 12.23 earnings per share for the current year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were issued a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other State Street news, EVP John Plansky sold 16,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.32, for a total value of $2,001,552.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 56,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,982,059.84. This trade represents a 22.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of State Street

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STT. Regents of The University of California increased its stake in shares of State Street by 211.2% in the 4th quarter. Regents of The University of California now owns 8,706,195 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,123,186,000 after acquiring an additional 5,908,370 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of State Street in the 4th quarter worth $303,483,000. Pinebridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of State Street in the 4th quarter worth $178,705,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of State Street by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,559,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $588,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of State Street by 261.0% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,217,802 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $141,277,000 after acquiring an additional 880,507 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

State Street Company Profile

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.