State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) Shares Purchased by Guinness Asset Management LTD

Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its holdings in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT - Free Report) by 65.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,694 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 3,057 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD's holdings in State Street were worth $755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in STT. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in State Street in the third quarter worth $44,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of State Street in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of State Street during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in State Street by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 730 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Tobam bought a new stake in shares of State Street during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of the company's 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 $10,878,784.74. This represents a 10.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

State Street Stock Performance

Shares of State Street stock traded down $2.98 during trading on Monday, hitting $97.51. 4,204,955 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,658,874. State Street Co. has a 52-week low of $70.20 and a 52-week high of $101.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.74.

State Street (NYSE:STT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.31. State Street had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 9.87%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3,267,560 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that State Street Co. will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. State Street's payout ratio is currently 48.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on STT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of State Street from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays upped 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on State Street from $139.00 to $132.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised State Street from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of State Street from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, State Street currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $100.33.

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.