Verity & Verity LLC Increases Holdings in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 251,581 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 11,784 shares during the period. State Street accounts for about 2.3% of Verity & Verity LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC owned 0.09% of State Street worth $24,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of STT. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of State Street by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,811,415 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $514,136,000 after buying an additional 1,354,560 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of State Street by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,112,758 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $540,796,000 after acquiring an additional 833,679 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in State Street by 818.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 518,697 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $45,889,000 after purchasing an additional 462,201 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in State Street by 99.4% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 888,146 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $78,574,000 after purchasing an additional 442,725 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of State Street by 13.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,366,549 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $306,116,000 after buying an additional 408,792 shares during the period. 87.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of State Street from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of State Street from $139.00 to $132.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, State Street has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $100.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 111,042 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

State Street Stock Performance

NYSE:STT traded down $2.98 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $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 1-year low of $70.20 and a 1-year high of $101.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $97.72 and a 200 day moving average of $89.63.

State Street (NYSE:STT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3,267,560 billion. State Street had a net margin of 9.87% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that State Street Co. will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.03%.

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.