Tower Bridge Advisors Makes New Investment in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Tower Bridge Advisors acquired a new stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,375 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in State Street by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,169,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $632,111,000 after buying an additional 41,442 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,112,758 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $540,796,000 after purchasing an additional 833,679 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of State Street by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,811,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $514,136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,560 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in State Street by 13.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,366,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $306,116,000 after purchasing an additional 408,792 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in State Street by 1.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,421,569 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $214,236,000 after purchasing an additional 23,252 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

State Street Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:STT opened at $99.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $28.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $98.59 and its 200 day moving average is $93.51. State Street Co. has a 12-month low of $70.20 and a 12-month high of $103.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.04 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that State Street Co. will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The company 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 $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 3.06%. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on STT. Wolfe Research upgraded State Street from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research note 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 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on State Street from $139.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.73.

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.