Securian Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,321 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 462 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in State Street were worth $1,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of STT. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of State Street during the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of State Street during the fourth quarter valued at about $365,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in State Street in the 4th quarter worth approximately $522,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in State Street during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,449,000. Finally, Strs Ohio raised its holdings in shares of State Street by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 235,349 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,230,000 after buying an additional 44,366 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on STT shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of State Street from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on State Street from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of State Street from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on State Street from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on State Street from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.96.

State Street Stock Performance

STT stock traded down $0.89 during trading on Monday, hitting $77.32. The company had a trading volume of 1,168,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,248,966. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $23.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.48. State Street Co. has a 1-year low of $62.78 and a 1-year high of $86.25.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The asset manager reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.12. State Street had a return on equity of 11.78% and a net margin of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that State Street Co. will post 8.14 earnings per share for the current year.

State Street Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This is a positive change from State Street’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. State Street’s dividend payout ratio is 51.69%.

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.