Investors Buy High Volume of State Street Call Options (NYSE:STT)

State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 12,480 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 751% compared to the average volume of 1,467 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on STT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on State Street from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of State Street from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of State Street from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on State Street from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.36.

Insider Activity

In other State Street news, EVP John Plansky sold 13,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.32, for a total value of $1,265,603.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,032,462.56. This trade represents a 20.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.97, for a total transaction of $1,224,625.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 111,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,878,784.74. The trade was a 10.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,460 shares of company stock valued at $2,499,860 over the last three months. 0.31% 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 the company. Essex Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of State Street during the second quarter valued at about $226,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in State Street by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 124,772 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,233,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in State Street by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 645,628 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,776,000 after acquiring an additional 48,286 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of State Street in the 2nd quarter worth $484,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in shares of State Street by 3.1% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 3,551,282 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $262,795,000 after purchasing an additional 105,222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

State Street Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:STT traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.83. The company had a trading volume of 372,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,205,214. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. State Street has a one year low of $70.20 and a one year high of $101.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.30. The company has a market capitalization of $28.68 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.19 billion. State Street had a net margin of 9.87% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that State Street will post 8.42 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. State Street’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.03%.

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.