Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 9,886 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 62.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,874 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,886 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 9.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,685 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 0.5% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,085,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $637,873,000 after acquiring an additional 38,360 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 9.9% during the third 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 1.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,577,091 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $141,986,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 201.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 963,811 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,791,000 after purchasing an additional 644,261 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Northern Trust Stock Down 0.1 %

NTRS stock opened at $113.75 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $106.75 and a 200-day moving average of $99.66. Northern Trust Co. has a fifty-two week low of $78.75 and a fifty-two week high of $114.67. The company has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on NTRS. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northern Trust news, insider John Landers sold 900 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total transaction of $100,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $851,401.60. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.36, for a total value of $2,936,191.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,987,202.96. The trade was a 49.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,631 shares of company stock valued at $4,550,459. 0.64% 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.