Legal & General Group Plc Trims Position in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 21.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,068,231 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 554,627 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.71% of State Street worth $202,997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in State Street during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in State Street by 116.6% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 366 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in State Street during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in State Street by 187.3% during the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 477 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in State Street during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

State Street Price Performance

STT opened at $82.47 on Thursday. State Street Co. has a twelve month low of $70.20 and a twelve month high of $103.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $23.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.12.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.31. State Street had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that State Street Co. will post 9.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at State Street

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 100,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,002,300. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective (down previously from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research raised shares of State Street from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of State Street from $109.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.07.

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.