Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 7,088 Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $727,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTRS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $386,809,000 after acquiring an additional 388,692 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,939 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the 4th quarter worth $289,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 5,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NTRS. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Northern Trust from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Northern Trust from $98.00 to $92.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.83.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.0%

Northern Trust stock opened at $106.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $20.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.18. Northern Trust Co. has a 1 year low of $79.68 and a 1 year high of $114.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $96.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.22.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. On average, equities analysts predict that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, insider Teresa Parker sold 6,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.62, for a total transaction of $650,709.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 79,391 shares in the company, valued at $7,988,322.42. This trade represents a 7.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Clive Bellows sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.95, for a total transaction of $329,835.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,872,163.20. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Northern Trust

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.