Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Shares Sold by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE reduced its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 532,618 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 57,056 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.27% of Northern Trust worth $54,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,486,616 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $767,378,000 after purchasing an additional 92,162 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Northern Trust by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,904,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $501,444,000 after acquiring an additional 30,908 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Northern Trust by 9.9% during the 3rd 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. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Northern Trust by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,885,312 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $295,744,000 after acquiring an additional 202,327 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,532,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $259,571,000 after purchasing an additional 39,592 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northern Trust news, EVP Clive Bellows sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.95, for a total value of $329,835.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,872,163.20. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Teresa Parker sold 6,467 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.62, for a total value of $650,709.54. Following the sale, the insider now owns 79,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,988,322.42. This represents a 7.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,571 shares of company stock worth $1,410,397 in the last quarter. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $123.00 to $121.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup cut their target price on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.83.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $107.14 on Wednesday. Northern Trust Co. has a one year low of $79.68 and a one year high of $114.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $95.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $20.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.18.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is presently 27.99%.

Northern Trust 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.