Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Buys 311 Shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 187.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 477 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in State Street were worth $47,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of STT. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in State Street in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of State Street by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 457,924 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $44,725,000 after buying an additional 14,476 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in State Street by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,874,936 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $184,025,000 after buying an additional 10,404 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in State Street by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 74,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,289,000 after acquiring an additional 7,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in State Street in the fourth quarter valued at about $395,000. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at State Street

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 owned by company insiders.

State Street Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE STT opened at $89.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $95.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44. State Street Co. has a 52 week low of $70.20 and a 52 week high of $103.00.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.31. State Street had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that State Street Co. will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on STT. Wolfe Research upgraded State Street from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $120.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.53.

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.