State Street Corp., the third-largest custody bank, rose the most in more than a year after saying it will eliminate 630 jobs in its third round of cuts in two years to bolster profit.

State Street rose as much as 7.5 percent, the biggest increase since Nov. 30, 2011. The job cuts, equal to about 2 percent of the company’s workforce, brings reductions in the past two years to almost 2,900. Fourth-quarter operating profit rose 15 percent, as market gains boosted assets and the fees they generate, the Boston-based company said today.

Chief Executive Officer Joseph Hooley is seeking to offset the impact of record-low interest rates and subdued trading by clients. State Street, which has come under pressure from shareholders including Trian Fund Management LP’s Nelson Peltz to improve profitability, repurchased 10.9 million shares for $480 million in the fourth quarter, helping earnings per share exceed analysts’ estimates.

“I meet with shareholders all the time to try to understand their view of the business,” Hooley said today in an interview. “I think we’re making the right move in a challenging environment,” he said, referring to the job cuts.

Net income on an operating basis increased to $521 million, or $1.11 a share, from $454 million, or 93 cents, a year earlier. Earnings beat the $1.01-a-share average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. In addition to the share buybacks last year, the company has set aside $400 million for repurchases through the end of March.

‘Big Impact’

“The big impact was from a fairly significant share repurchase,” Marty Mosby, a Memphis, Tennessee-based equity analyst at Guggenheim Securities LLC, said in an interview. “They accelerated their repurchase plan, brought the share count lower and pushed up earnings per share.”

State Street rose 5.8 percent to $53.29 at 12:19 p.m. in New York. The stock gained 18 percent in the past year through yesterday, compared with a 24 percent advance by BNY Mellon and a 27 percent increase by the Standard & Poor’s 20-company index of asset managers and custody banks.

Hooley last year said he was taking a “cautious” approach to acquisitions. State Street made at least five acquisitions since he took over in March 2010. The purchases have drawn criticism from Peltz, whose Trian was the ninth-biggest holder of State Street’s shares as of Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Edward Resch, the firm’s chief financial officer for more than a decade, will retire this year when a successor is found, the company said in November.

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