Moors & Cabot Inc. Raises Stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,332 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in State Street were worth $1,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of State Street in the fourth quarter valued at about $272,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 12,707 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of State Street by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 74,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,289,000 after acquiring an additional 7,446 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of State Street in the fourth quarter valued at about $395,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of State Street by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,874,936 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $184,025,000 after acquiring an additional 10,404 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

State Street Stock Performance

Shares of STT opened at $85.76 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market cap of $24.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50-day moving average of $97.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.09. State Street Co. has a 12-month low of $70.20 and a 12-month high of $103.00.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.31. The company 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.04 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that State Street Co. will post 9.68 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in 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 on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of State Street from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $120.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $103.00 price objective (down previously from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 100,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,002,300. The trade was a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 50,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,054,667.52. This represents a 6.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.