Cooke & Bieler LP Cuts Stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Cooke & Bieler LP lowered its stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,818,418 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 64,614 shares during the period. State Street accounts for approximately 2.7% of Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in State Street were worth $276,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in State Street in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased 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 purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of State Street in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of State Street during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in State Street during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 owns 100,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,002,300. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.47, for a total transaction of $368,536.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,054,667.52. The trade was a 6.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $103.00 target price (down previously from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on State Street from $108.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on State Street from $142.00 to $139.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, State Street currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.20.

State Street Stock Performance

State Street stock opened at $86.73 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. State Street Co. has a 1-year low of $70.20 and a 1-year high of $103.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $97.68 and its 200 day moving average is $94.14.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that State Street Co. will post 9.68 EPS for the current year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. State Street’s payout ratio is 36.89%.

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.