State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) Shares Purchased by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 109.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,308 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,897 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in State Street were worth $1,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Essential Planning LLC. acquired a new stake in State Street in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,075,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in State Street by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,296 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in State Street by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 18,332 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its position in State Street by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 10,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in State Street by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 11,010 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after buying an additional 5,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on STT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 target price (down from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

State Street Stock Up 2.5 %

STT stock opened at $90.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. State Street Co. has a one year low of $70.20 and a one year high of $103.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $96.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.16.

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

State Street Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. State Street’s payout ratio is currently 36.89%.

State Street 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.