Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 323,314 Shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 106.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 626,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 323,314 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in State Street were worth $61,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE acquired a new position in State Street during the 4th quarter worth approximately $307,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in State Street during the fourth quarter worth $69,000. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in State Street in the fourth quarter valued at $290,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in State Street by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 115,751 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,361,000 after buying an additional 24,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in State Street during the 4th quarter worth about $17,245,000. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

State Street Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of STT stock opened at $92.87 on Tuesday. State Street Co. has a 12-month low of $70.20 and a 12-month high of $103.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $95.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $26.79 billion, a PE ratio of 11.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. State Street had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.04 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that State Street Co. will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is 36.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other State Street news, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $5,054,667.52. This trade represents a 6.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 100,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,002,300. The trade was a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on STT. Citigroup decreased their price objective on State Street from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 price target (down from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.87.

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.