Azora Capital LP Invests $80.29 Million in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund 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 holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Azora Capital LP owned approximately 0.28% of State Street at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Adero Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of State Street by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its stake in State Street by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,283 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in State Street by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 12,232 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,201,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in State Street by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 18,332 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,799,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in State Street by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,050 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on STT shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of State Street from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on State Street from $118.00 to $113.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Truist Financial dropped their target price on State Street from $89.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded State Street from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $102.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at State Street

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of State Street stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $1,081,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 100,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,002,300. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 value of $368,536.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,054,667.52. This represents a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

State Street Stock Performance

STT stock traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $91.46. The stock had a trading volume of 1,903,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,153,451. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.58. State Street Co. has a fifty-two week low of $70.20 and a fifty-two week high of $103.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.39 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

State Street (NYSE:STT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.30 billion. State Street had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 12.60%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.69 EPS. Analysts predict that State Street Co. will post 9.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

State Street Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. State Street's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.