Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Stake in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 123,992 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,713 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $12,709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 22,061 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,286,000 after purchasing an additional 4,374 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 388,692 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 68.1% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after buying an additional 5,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,267,406 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $129,909,000 after buying an additional 8,102 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jason J. Tyler sold 2,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.67, for a total value of $252,042.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,585,448.83. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.36, for a total transaction of $2,936,191.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 26,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,987,202.96. This trade represents a 49.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NTRS. Truist Financial raised their target price on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Northern Trust from $138.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.85.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Northern Trust stock opened at $100.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.28, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Northern Trust Co. has a 12 month low of $79.32 and a 12 month high of $114.67.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 30.67%.

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.