Diversify Advisory Services LLC Takes Position in State Street Corporation $STT

Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,562,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of State Street in the second quarter worth $4,139,389,000. Regents of The University of California raised its holdings in shares of State Street by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Regents of The University of California now owns 10,065,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,273,841,000 after buying an additional 1,358,923 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of State Street by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,222,382 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $673,740,000 after acquiring an additional 433,201 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in State Street by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,926,321 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $506,534,000 after buying an additional 67,309 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on STT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on State Street from $176.50 to $187.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of State Street from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of State Street from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of State Street from $195.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of State Street from $196.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP W. Bradford Hu sold 9,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.52, for a total value of $1,800,546.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 49,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,187,988.88. This represents a 16.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Hanley Ronald P. O sold 14,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.17, for a total transaction of $2,680,226.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 240,959 shares in the company, valued at $44,377,419.03. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 49,576 shares of company stock valued at $8,415,875 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

State Street Trading Down 3.1%

STT opened at $185.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $51.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.18. State Street Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $104.64 and a fifty-two week high of $195.18.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The asset manager reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that State Street Corporation will post 13.75 earnings per share for the current year.

State Street Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from State Street’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. State Street’s payout ratio is presently 29.63%.

State Street 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.