Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS Shares Acquired by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,894,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 161,826 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 1.53% of Northern Trust worth $395,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Northern Trust by 13.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,112 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,984,000 after purchasing an additional 2,363 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 39.1% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 16,557 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 4,653 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 79.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Northern Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $267,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Northern Trust by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 29,290 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,714,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Northern Trust from $159.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Northern Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $168.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Northern Trust in a report on Monday, February 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Northern Trust from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.08.

Northern Trust Trading Up 2.7%

NASDAQ NTRS opened at $173.06 on Friday. Northern Trust Corporation has a 52 week low of $105.43 and a 52 week high of $173.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $158.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.25.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The company’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 10.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David W. Fox, Jr. sold 19,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,088,582.08. This represents a 51.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Clive Bellows sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.02, for a total value of $462,056.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 28,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,656,369.34. The trade was a 9.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 22,800 shares of company stock valued at $3,785,251 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

About Northern Trust

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.