818,075 Shares in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) Acquired by Azora Capital LP

Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 818,075 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $80,294,000. State Street accounts for 3.6% of Azora Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in STT. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of State Street in the fourth quarter valued at about $272,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in State Street by 3.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 10,404 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 7,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in State Street in the 4th quarter valued at $395,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at State Street

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann Fogarty sold 3,705 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on STT. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of State Street from $139.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $98.00 price objective on State Street and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on State Street from $109.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of State Street from $89.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.15.

State Street Stock Performance

STT stock opened at $90.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $86.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.59. State Street Co. has a 1 year low of $70.20 and a 1 year high of $103.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.30 billion. State Street had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 12.14%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that State Street Co. will post 9.68 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. State Street’s payout ratio is currently 34.12%.

State Street Company 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.