AlphaQuest LLC Makes New $210,000 Investment in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,047 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. FMR LLC increased its position in Northern Trust by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542,685 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Northern Trust by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in Northern Trust by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 678,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,542,000 after purchasing an additional 261,797 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Northern Trust by 67.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,990 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $36,371,000 after purchasing an additional 162,623 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,586 shares in the company, valued at $2,987,202.96. This represents a 49.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $429,852.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 81,794 shares in the company, valued at $9,242,722. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211 in the last quarter. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NTRS shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Northern Trust from $138.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.50.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS stock opened at $97.88 on Monday. Northern Trust Co. has a 1 year low of $79.32 and a 1 year high of $114.67. The firm has a market cap of $19.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.01, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $107.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.25. 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 issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.67%.

Northern Trust Company 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.