Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Acquires 2,659 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 51.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,851 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,659 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 118.4% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Northern Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 378 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 528.3% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTRS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.31.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $86.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $105.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.08. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $79.32 and a twelve month high of $114.67. The firm has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.79, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its earnings results 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 30.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $429,852.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 81,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,242,722. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason J. Tyler sold 2,237 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.67, for a total transaction of $252,042.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,449 shares in the company, valued at $6,585,448.83. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211 in the last quarter. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by 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.