NFJ Investment Group LLC Acquires Shares of 35,846 Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 35,846 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $6,231,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Northern Trust in the second quarter worth about $2,523,781,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,493,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,285,236,000 after buying an additional 97,584 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,747,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $511,917,000 after buying an additional 301,164 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Northern Trust by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,894,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $395,395,000 after acquiring an additional 161,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Northern Trust by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,455,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $342,744,000 after acquiring an additional 36,322 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NTRS. Evercore set a $179.00 price target on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Northern Trust from $179.50 to $185.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Northern Trust from $176.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Northern Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $178.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $180.68.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $182.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $181.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $163.13. Northern Trust Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $121.12 and a fifty-two week high of $195.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.39 billion, a PE ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.25.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The asset manager reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $1.52. The company had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 16.91%. Northern Trust’s revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Northern Trust Corporation will post 11.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Northern Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 255 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $179.57 per share, with a total value of $45,790.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,388. The trade was a 3.13% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.