Wealthfront Advisers LLC Sells 5,897 Shares of Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Wealthfront Advisers LLC trimmed its position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 25.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 17,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,897 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $2,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Northern Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,863,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 67.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,019,531 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $136,750,000 after purchasing an additional 409,434 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 62.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,042,084 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $140,265,000 after purchasing an additional 400,247 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Northern Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,698,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 833,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $112,144,000 after purchasing an additional 217,305 shares during the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other news, insider Guy Gibson sold 3,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.39, for a total value of $428,451.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 29,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,176,583.48. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 245 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $151.85 per share, with a total value of $37,203.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,052,472.35. This trade represents a 3.66% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,705 shares of company stock worth $5,211,464. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTRS has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Monday, February 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Evercore upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $142.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research cut shares of Northern Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $151.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.55.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Northern Trust stock opened at $164.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $30.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Northern Trust Corporation has a 1 year low of $95.88 and a 1 year high of $173.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $147.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.93.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Northern Trust Corporation will post 10.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 33.51%.

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.