IFM Investors Pty Ltd Grows Holdings in State Street Corporation $STT

Key Points

• IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in State Street Corporation by 19.5% to $8.33 million, owning 78,321 shares after acquiring an additional 12,803 shares.
• Recent analyst ratings reflect optimism for State Street; multiple firms upgraded their ratings, with average target prices reaching $114.18.
• State Street has declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.84 per share, which will be paid on October 14th, reflecting a yield of 3.0%.

IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 78,321 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 12,803 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in State Street were worth $8,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of State Street by 9.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,184,690 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $732,775,000 after acquiring an additional 674,120 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of State Street by 2.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,264,161 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $381,770,000 after acquiring an additional 115,751 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of State Street by 0.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,068,867 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $274,732,000 after acquiring an additional 14,011 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank raised its stake in shares of State Street by 6,967.4% during the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 2,989,452 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $267,646,000 after acquiring an additional 2,947,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of State Street by 1.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,713,415 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $242,932,000 after acquiring an additional 49,353 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on STT. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of State Street from $102.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of State Street from $113.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of State Street from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of State Street from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of State Street from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, State Street currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $114.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael L. Richards sold 990 shares of State Street stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.29, for a total transaction of $108,197.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 41,332 shares in the company, valued at $4,517,174.28. This trade represents a 2.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

State Street Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE STT traded down $0.97 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $112.35. 437,486 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,033,678. The stock has a market cap of $31.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.80. State Street Corporation has a 1-year low of $72.81 and a 1-year high of $116.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

State Street (NYSE:STT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $2.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.33 billion. State Street had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 12.96%. The business's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that State Street Corporation will post 9.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

State Street Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This is an increase from State Street's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. State Street's dividend payout ratio is 34.04%.

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.