Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,422,147 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 55,598 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.17% of State Street worth $335,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in State Street by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,169,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $632,111,000 after purchasing an additional 41,442 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,354,560 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of State Street by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 5,602,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $547,636,000 after buying an additional 561,773 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of State Street by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,180,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $214,998,000 after buying an additional 381,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of State Street by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,874,936 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $184,025,000 after buying an additional 10,404 shares during the period. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on STT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on State Street from $106.00 to $104.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $103.00 target price (down from $104.00) on shares of State Street in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on State Street from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, State Street has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of State Street stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $1,081,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 100,023 shares in the company, valued at $10,002,300. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.47, for a total transaction of $368,536.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,054,667.52. This trade represents a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

State Street Price Performance

STT opened at $89.62 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.61. State Street Co. has a 52-week low of $70.20 and a 52-week high of $103.00. 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 cap of $25.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last announced 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 firm 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. On average, analysts expect that State Street Co. will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. State Street’s payout ratio is currently 36.89%.

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.