Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 43.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 155,173 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 47,179 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $19,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTRS. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 84.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $199,000 after buying an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,850,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $774,411,000 after purchasing an additional 363,472 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 529.4% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 461,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $45,515,000 after buying an additional 388,081 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 96.7% during the first quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 5,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 2,575 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Northern Trust in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 3,891 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $128.57 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $859,619.02. The trade was a 139.21% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Susan Cohen Levy sold 27,591 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.13, for a total transaction of $3,535,234.83. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 48,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,183,169.41. This represents a 36.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have acquired a total of 4,417 shares of company stock valued at $566,807 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.3%

NTRS opened at $129.96 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $129.23 and a 200 day moving average of $121.23. The firm has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Northern Trust Corporation has a 12 month low of $81.62 and a 12 month high of $135.48.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 14.37% and a net margin of 11.99%.The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 37.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NTRS. Zacks Research lowered shares of Northern Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Northern Trust from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.71.

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.