Morningstar Investment Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Morningstar Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 5,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $695,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 47.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,810,816 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $178,637,000 after acquiring an additional 585,992 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,443,599 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $339,711,000 after buying an additional 558,287 shares during the period. RNC Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,905,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,834,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 529.4% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 461,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $45,515,000 after buying an additional 388,081 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NTRS. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Thursday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $123.00 price target on shares of Northern Trust and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.23.

Northern Trust Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ NTRS opened at $127.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.04. Northern Trust Corporation has a 12 month low of $81.62 and a 12 month high of $135.48. The company has a market capitalization of $24.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.31.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a net margin of 11.75% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.34 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This is an increase from Northern Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is presently 37.60%.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 256 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $126.34 per share, with a total value of $32,343.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $319,008.50. The trade was a 11.28% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Northern Trust 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.