Howland Capital Management LLC Acquires New Shares in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Howland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,477 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in State Street during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its stake in State Street by 116.6% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 366 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in State Street in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in State Street in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of State Street during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

State Street Stock Down 0.4 %

STT traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $97.64. 491,015 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,987,482. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.62 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.43. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $70.20 and a 1 year high of $103.00.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.31. State Street had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that State Street Co. will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. State Street's payout ratio is 36.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on STT shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of State Street from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of State Street from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded State Street from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised State Street from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $100.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.