State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) Short Interest Down 28.7% in March

State Street Co. (NYSE:STT - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,380,000 shares, a decrease of 28.7% from the March 15th total of 3,340,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of State Street in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on State Street from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised State Street from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on State Street from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on State Street from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $83.71.

Insider Activity at State Street

In related news, CFO Eric W. Aboaf sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.90, for a total transaction of $886,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 149,063 shares in the company, valued at $11,015,755.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Anthony Bisegna sold 4,258 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.64, for a total transaction of $313,559.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,328 shares in the company, valued at $1,717,873.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric W. Aboaf sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.90, for a total value of $886,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,063 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,015,755.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,864 shares of company stock worth $1,390,597. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On State Street

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STT. Strategic Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in State Street by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 16,068 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,213 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA increased its holdings in State Street by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 10,318 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $798,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the period. Metropolis Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of State Street by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 3,645,635 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $281,880,000 after acquiring an additional 183,591 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of State Street by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 13,299 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Finally, Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of State Street by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 48,234 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,729,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

State Street Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE STT traded up $1.87 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $75.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,594,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,265,227. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The business's 50 day moving average is $73.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.14. State Street has a 12-month low of $62.78 and a 12-month high of $81.37. The firm has a market cap of $22.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.52.

State Street (NYSE:STT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The asset manager reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.21. State Street had a return on equity of 11.86% and a net margin of 10.59%. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that State Street will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. State Street's payout ratio is 50.27%.

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.