Wedbush Securities Inc. Takes $273,000 Position in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in State Street in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its holdings in State Street by 116.6% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 366 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in State Street in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in State Street by 187.3% in the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 477 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in State Street in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on STT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 target price (down previously from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on State Street from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on State Street from $108.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America boosted their price target on State Street from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on State Street from $139.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, State Street has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.07.

State Street Stock Up 9.5 %

NYSE:STT opened at $82.47 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $91.80 and a 200-day moving average of $94.12. State Street Co. has a 52 week low of $70.20 and a 52 week 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.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.31. State Street had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that State Street Co. will post 9.68 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.