B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Has $1.85 Million Stake in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG reduced its position in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,926 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $1,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NTRS. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Northern Trust by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 4,374 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Northern Trust by 9.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares in the last quarter. 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, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Northern Trust by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,267,406 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $129,909,000 after buying an additional 8,102 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Northern Trust Stock Up 0.8 %

Northern Trust stock opened at $98.73 on Thursday. Northern Trust Co. has a twelve month low of $79.32 and a twelve month high of $114.67. The stock has a market cap of $19.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. As a group, analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $104.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.69.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, EVP Jane Karpinski sold 2,262 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.33, for a total value of $251,828.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,883.88. The trade was a 11.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jason J. Tyler sold 2,237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.67, for a total value of $252,042.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,585,448.83. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.