Heartland Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Heartland Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,728 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14,656 shares during the period. Northern Trust accounts for about 1.0% of Heartland Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned about 0.07% of Northern Trust worth $18,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTRS. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 5.5% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 5,857 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $788,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Tobam lifted its position in Northern Trust by 45.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 8,637 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,163,000 after acquiring an additional 2,709 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Northern Trust by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,410 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,536,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 4.2% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 64,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,625,000 after purchasing an additional 2,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Northern Trust by 1.5% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 121,311 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,328,000 after buying an additional 1,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, insider Guy Gibson sold 1,043 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.43, for a total transaction of $153,769.49. Following the sale, the insider owned 35,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,966.59. The trade was a 2.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.62, for a total transaction of $3,740,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 26,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,928,871.58. This represents a 48.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,191 shares of company stock valued at $4,061,028. 0.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NTRS stock opened at $146.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.36. Northern Trust Corporation has a 1-year low of $81.62 and a 1-year high of $157.60. The company has a market cap of $27.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 14.87%. Northern Trust’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.26 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NTRS shares. Evercore increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $142.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Northern Trust from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their target price on Northern Trust from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research raised Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $148.00 price objective on Northern Trust in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $148.75.

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.