Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) EVP Sells $429,852.00 in Stock

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $429,852.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,242,722. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NTRS stock opened at $113.53 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $106.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.76. The stock has a market cap of $22.50 billion, a PE ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.08. Northern Trust Co. has a 52-week low of $78.96 and a 52-week high of $114.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. As a group, analysts forecast that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.25 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 30.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northern Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 22,061 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,286,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $386,809,000 after acquiring an additional 388,692 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in Northern Trust by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after buying an additional 5,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Northern Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $1,059,000. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on NTRS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.58.

Northern Trust Company Profile

Northern Trust Corporation, a financial holding company, provides wealth management, asset servicing, asset management, and banking solutions for corporations, institutions, families, and individuals worldwide. It operates in two segments, Asset Servicing and Wealth Management. The Asset Servicing segment offers asset servicing and related services, including custody, fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, investment management, investment risk and analytical services, employee benefit services, securities lending, foreign exchange, treasury management, brokerage services, transition management services, banking, and cash management services.