Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 21.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,296 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in State Street were worth $422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in State Street in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its position in shares of State Street by 116.6% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 366 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of State Street during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in State Street during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in State Street in the 4th quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on STT shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of State Street from $142.00 to $139.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $103.00 price objective (down from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, State Street currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of State Street stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.47, for a total value of $368,536.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,816 shares in the company, valued at $5,054,667.52. The trade was a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of State Street stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $1,081,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 100,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,002,300. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

State Street Price Performance

STT stock opened at $88.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $96.29 and a 200 day moving average of $94.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $25.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44. State Street Co. has a 1 year low of $70.20 and a 1 year high of $103.00.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.27 billion. State Street had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.04 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that State Street Co. will post 9.68 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.89%.

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.