Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on State Street (NYSE:STT)

State Street Co. (NYSE:STT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 12,480 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 751% compared to the typical volume of 1,467 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of State Street from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on State Street from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley raised State Street from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $139.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised State Street from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, State Street presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.36.

Insider Activity at State Street

In other State Street news, EVP John Plansky sold 13,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.32, for a total value of $1,265,603.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,108 shares in the company, valued at $5,032,462.56. This represents a 20.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathryn M. Horgan sold 12,500 shares of State Street stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.97, for a total value of $1,224,625.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 111,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,878,784.74. This trade represents a 10.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 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 Trading of State Street

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STT. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in State Street by 1.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 346,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,633,000 after buying an additional 4,052 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in State Street during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in State Street by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 35,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in State Street by 13.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,366,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $306,116,000 after purchasing an additional 408,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of State Street by 2.0% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,283 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

State Street Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE STT traded down $0.45 on Tuesday, reaching $97.83. The stock had a trading volume of 372,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,205,214. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. State Street has a 1 year low of $70.20 and a 1 year high of $101.91. The business has a 50 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44.

State Street (NYSE:STT) last issued 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. State Street had a net margin of 9.87% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The firm had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that State Street will post 8.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

State Street Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. State Street’s payout ratio is 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.