Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Sells 4,442 Shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lessened its holdings in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT - Free Report) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,490 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,442 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in State Street were worth $2,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of State Street by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,510,570 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $737,162,000 after purchasing an additional 406,396 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of State Street by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,193,687 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $704,238,000 after acquiring an additional 24,617 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in State Street by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,983,607 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $685,441,000 after acquiring an additional 870,849 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in State Street by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 5,602,547 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $547,636,000 after acquiring an additional 561,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in State Street by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,148,410 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $407,166,000 after purchasing an additional 563,790 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on STT. Wolfe Research upgraded State Street from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of State Street from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of State Street from $118.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $98.00 price objective on State Street and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $102.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe sold 10,815 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the director now owns 100,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,002,300. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Elizabeth Schaefer sold 1,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.72, for a total value of $117,936.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at $667,154.88. The trade was a 15.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,567,972 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

State Street Stock Down 0.3 %

STT traded down $0.25 on Friday, hitting $93.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,422,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,153,940. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.42. State Street Co. has a 52-week low of $70.20 and a 52-week high of $103.00.

State Street (NYSE:STT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $1.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. State Street's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.12%.

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.