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 research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

STT has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of State Street from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded State Street from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on State Street from $155.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $191.00 price target (up from $176.00) on shares of State Street in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of State Street in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $184.72.

State Street Price Performance

NYSE STT opened at $184.10 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $50.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.42. State Street has a 52 week low of $104.64 and a 52 week high of $192.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.71.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The asset manager reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.34 by $0.31. State Street had a net margin of 15.02% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that State Street will post 13.68 earnings per share for the current year.

State Street Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from State Street’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at State Street

In other State Street news, EVP W. Bradford Hu sold 9,212 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.35, for a total value of $1,431,084.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 59,552 shares in the company, valued at $9,251,403.20. This represents a 13.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Michael L. Richards sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.14, for a total value of $243,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 41,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,781,829.78. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 25,265 shares of company stock valued at $3,935,103 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Regents of The University of California lifted its stake in State Street by 211.2% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 5,908,370 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of State Street in the 4th quarter worth about $303,483,000. Pinebridge Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of State Street during the 4th quarter valued at about $178,705,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of State Street by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,559,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $588,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of State Street by 261.0% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,217,802 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $141,277,000 after buying an additional 880,507 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

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.