Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS Shares Bought by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 64.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,145 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 15,400 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $5,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,493,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,285,236,000 after acquiring an additional 97,584 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,747,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $511,917,000 after purchasing an additional 301,164 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Northern Trust by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,894,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $395,395,000 after purchasing an additional 161,826 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,419,674 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,527,000 after purchasing an additional 41,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,953,020 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $266,763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on NTRS shares. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $162.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $159.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $151.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $186.00 target price on Northern Trust in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Northern Trust from $175.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO David W. Fox, Jr. sold 19,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.16, for a total transaction of $3,321,039.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,088,582.08. This represents a 51.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $166.41 per share, with a total value of $37,442.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 8,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,355,409.45. This trade represents a 2.84% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 22,800 shares of company stock valued at $3,785,251 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Northern Trust stock opened at $176.50 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.33. The stock has a market cap of $32.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Northern Trust Corporation has a 1-year low of $118.99 and a 1-year high of $178.70.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.34. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 11.21 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is currently 33.51%.

Northern Trust Profile

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in Chicago that provides asset servicing, asset management and wealth management solutions to institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals. The company’s core businesses include custody and fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, trust and fiduciary services, private banking, and retirement and defined contribution plan services.

Northern Trust’s product and service offerings span custody and fund accounting, portfolio and performance analytics, securities lending, cash management and foreign exchange, as well as discretionary and non-discretionary investment management.