Smith Group Asset Management LLC Invests $526,000 in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,363 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $526,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in State Street by 30.4% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,811,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $514,136,000 after buying an additional 1,354,560 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in State Street by 818.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 518,697 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $45,889,000 after purchasing an additional 462,201 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in State Street by 99.4% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 888,146 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $78,574,000 after purchasing an additional 442,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in State Street by 13.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,366,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $306,116,000 after purchasing an additional 408,792 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on STT shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of State Street from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised State Street from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.73.

Insider Activity at State Street

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

State Street Stock Performance

Shares of STT stock opened at $100.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.90. State Street Co. has a one year low of $70.20 and a one year high of $102.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that State Street Co. will post 9.43 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.89%.

About State Street

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.