Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $395,000 in State Street Co. (NYSE:STT)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,024 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $395,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in STT. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of State Street during the 4th quarter valued at $2,041,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its stake in State Street by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 4,607 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. purchased a new stake in State Street during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,972,000. Burney Co. lifted its stake in State Street by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 12,142 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of State Street by 33.2% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,622 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of State Street stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was 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 directly owns 111,042 shares in the company, valued at $10,878,784.74. The trade was a 10.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on STT shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on State Street from $139.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of State Street from $106.00 to $104.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of State Street from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of State Street from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, State Street currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.73.

State Street Price Performance

STT opened at $99.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $97.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.18. State Street Co. has a 52-week low of $70.20 and a 52-week high of $101.91.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3,267,560 billion. State Street had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that State Street Co. will post 9.43 EPS for the current year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. State Street’s payout ratio is 36.89%.

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.