Morgan Stanley Cuts State Street (NYSE:STT) Price Target to $132.00

State Street (NYSE:STT) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $139.00 to $132.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on STT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com lowered State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on State Street from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on State Street from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on State Street from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.57.

State Street Price Performance

NYSE STT opened at $97.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. State Street has a 1-year low of $70.20 and a 1-year high of $101.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $96.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.93.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.19 billion. State Street had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 9.87%. State Street’s revenue was up 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that State Street will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.03%.

Insider Activity at State Street

In related news, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 111,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,878,784.74. This represents a 10.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John Plansky sold 13,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.32, for a total value of $1,265,603.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,032,462.56. This represents a 20.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,460 shares of company stock valued at $2,499,860. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On State Street

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STT. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of State Street by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,283 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in State Street by 5.4% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. increased its stake in State Street by 1.8% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 8,332 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in State Street by 1.4% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,790 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

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.