Entropy Technologies LP Buys New Stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 18,611 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,827,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in State Street in the 4th quarter valued at about $272,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of State Street by 20.5% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,607,000 after buying an additional 12,707 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 74,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,289,000 after buying an additional 7,446 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in State Street during the fourth quarter worth approximately $395,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in State Street by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 137,040 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,124,000 after acquiring an additional 20,183 shares during the period. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

State Street Price Performance

Shares of NYSE STT opened at $99.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. State Street Co. has a 1-year low of $70.20 and a 1-year high of $103.00. The company has a market capitalization of $29.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $98.53 and a 200-day moving average of $91.76.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 12.14%. State Street’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.04 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that State Street Co. will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of State Street stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.97, for a total transaction of $1,224,625.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 111,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,878,784.74. The trade was a 10.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on STT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 price target (down from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of State Street from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. Barclays raised their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.73.

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.