Market Update (NYSE:STT): State Street to pay $12 mln to settle pay-to-play scheme in Ohio

[Reuters] – State Street Corp. will pay $12 million to settle allegations that it conducted a pay-to-play scheme to win Ohio pension fund contracts, U.S. regulators said Thursday. The Securities and Exchange Commission also charged the company’s public funds group head and the company’s lobbyist in connection with the alleged scheme. Vincent DeBaggis, who headed the public funds group, settled the charges and agreed to pay more than $274,000. Read more on this. State Street Corporation (STT) , with a current market cap of $23.18B, began trading this morning at $57.28. During today’s session, STT traded between $56.14 to $58.24 and has traded between $56.14 and $81.26 over the past year. Priced at 11.62x this year’s forecasted earnings, STT shares are relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 15.74x forward p/e ratio. The company pays shareholders $1.36 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.32%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 19 sell-side analysts are looking at $1.18 per share, which would be $0.19 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.09 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $4.89, which would be a $0.20 better than last year. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $2.65 Billion. If reported, that would be a 2.57% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, JP Morgan upgraded STT from Underweight to Neutral (Jan 7, 2016). Previously, UBS downgraded STT from Buy to Neutral. When considering if perhaps the stock is under or overvalued, the average price target is $74.64, which is 30.31% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:STT) Similar Articles: Market Update: State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) – State Street Corporation Announces Date for Release of Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2015 Financial Results and Conference Call Webcast Company Update: State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) – State Street Global Advisors Chief Executive Officer, Ronald O’Hanley, to Present at the 2015 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Banking and Financials Conference Stock Update: State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) – One in Four Fund Managers Believe it’s “Highly Likely” they will Face Competition from New Entrants Within the Next Five Years, Says Research From State Street