Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Raises Stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 90.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,010 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,220 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in State Street were worth $1,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Adero Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,283 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $467,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 12,232 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $986,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 price target (down previously from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on State Street from $108.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 target price 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.20.

State Street Price Performance

STT stock opened at $85.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44. The business’s 50-day moving average is $97.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.09. State Street Co. has a 1 year low of $70.20 and a 1 year high of $103.00.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.04 EPS. State Street’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that State Street Co. will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.54%. State Street’s payout ratio is currently 36.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $1,081,500.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.47, for a total value of $368,536.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,816 shares in the company, 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.

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.