Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS Shares Sold by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 35.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,975 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 22,662 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $5,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTRS. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 10.0% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 28,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,877,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,947,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $262,128,000 after purchasing an additional 40,048 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,931 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 7.0% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 524,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,583,000 after buying an additional 34,405 shares during the period. Finally, Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 66.7% during the third quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 10,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after buying an additional 4,200 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Northern Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $139.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $136.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Northern Trust from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $148.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northern Trust news, EVP Susan Cohen Levy sold 27,591 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,183,169.41. This trade represents a 36.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Landers sold 766 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.35, for a total value of $95,252.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $909,371.55. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 53,357 shares of company stock valued at $7,370,987 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $150.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $132.49. Northern Trust Corporation has a 52 week low of $81.62 and a 52 week high of $157.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $28.49 billion, a PE ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.27.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 14.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is presently 36.61%.

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.