State Street (NYSE:STT) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $164.05 and last traded at $163.17, with a volume of 141624 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $161.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore set a $158.00 price objective on State Street and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on State Street from $162.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on State Street from $152.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Bank of America upgraded State Street from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $143.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on State Street from $150.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, State Street has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.57.

State Street Trading Down 0.9%

The stock has a market cap of $44.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $147.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.59 billion. State Street had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 13.47%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that State Street Corporation will post 12.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 1st. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael L. Richards sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.89, for a total transaction of $461,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,697,600.58. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hanley Ronald P. O sold 14,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.35, for a total value of $2,260,808.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 255,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,693,789.20. This represents a 5.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,476 shares of company stock worth $7,624,925. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STT. Regents of The University of California boosted its position in shares of State Street by 211.2% during the 4th quarter. Regents of The University of California now owns 8,706,195 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,123,186,000 after acquiring an additional 5,908,370 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in State Street during the 4th quarter valued at $303,483,000. Pinebridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in State Street during the 4th quarter valued at $178,705,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in State Street by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,559,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $588,227,000 after buying an additional 1,074,174 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in State Street by 261.0% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,217,802 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $141,277,000 after buying an additional 880,507 shares during the period. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About State Street

State Street Corporation is a global financial services company that provides a range of investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading services to institutional investors. Its principal activities include custody and fund administration, securities lending, performance and risk analytics, trading and execution services, and foreign exchange. The company also offers investment management through State Street Global Advisors, a major provider of exchange-traded funds and institutional investment strategies.

State Street serves a broad client base of asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds, endowments, and other institutions across North America, Europe, Asia and other global markets.