Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Shares Bought by Quent Capital LLC

Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 158.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 934 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 573 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $96,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,170 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 4,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,091 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 35,673 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,212,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jane Karpinski sold 2,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.33, for a total value of $251,828.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,918,883.88. This trade represents a 11.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Landers sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total transaction of $100,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,640 shares in the company, valued at $851,401.60. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,631 shares of company stock worth $4,550,459 in the last ninety days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $110.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.26, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $106.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.82. Northern Trust Co. has a fifty-two week low of $76.67 and a fifty-two week high of $114.67.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. Equities research analysts forecast that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.2 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on NTRS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.58.

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.