CoreFirst Bank & Trust Buys New Stake in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,277 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NTRS. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after buying an additional 1,542,685 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 201.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 963,811 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,791,000 after acquiring an additional 644,261 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 9.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 678,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,542,000 after purchasing an additional 261,797 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Northern Trust by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 359,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,829,000 after purchasing an additional 118,544 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTRS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup cut their target price on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Northern Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.85.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NTRS stock opened at $101.60 on Wednesday. Northern Trust Co. has a 52-week low of $79.32 and a 52-week high of $114.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $107.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.88 billion, a PE ratio of 10.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is currently 30.67%.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In related news, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $429,852.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,242,722. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jason J. Tyler sold 2,237 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.67, for a total value of $252,042.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,449 shares in the company, valued at $6,585,448.83. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 35,335 shares of company stock worth $3,970,211. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Company 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.