Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension Purchases 6,118 Shares of Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Key Points

• Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension increased its Northern Trust stake by 3.5% in the first quarter, buying 6,118 shares and bringing its total holdings to 180,499 shares worth about $25.2 million.
• Insider selling was notable, with CFO David W. Fox, Jr. and insider Clive Bellows both reducing their positions; insiders sold 22,800 shares over the last 90 days.
• Northern Trust’s fundamentals and outlook remain solid, as the company beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, maintained a 1.7% dividend yield, and has a Wall Street consensus rating of “Hold” with a target price of $178.75.

Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension grew its position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 180,499 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 6,118 shares during the quarter. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension owned about 0.10% of Northern Trust worth $25,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $257,410,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Northern Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $126,794,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Northern Trust by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,723,516 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $235,415,000 after acquiring an additional 703,985 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 114.1% during the 4th quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,031,579 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $140,903,000 after purchasing an additional 549,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in Northern Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,126,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David W. Fox, Jr. sold 19,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.16, for a total transaction of $3,321,039.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,088,582.08. This represents a 51.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Clive Bellows sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.02, for a total value of $462,056.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,217 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,656,369.34. The trade was a 9.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 22,800 shares of company stock valued at $3,785,251 over the last ninety days. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTRS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Northern Trust from $157.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Northern Trust from $175.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group set a $186.00 price target on Northern Trust in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Evercore set a $179.00 target price on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $178.75.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS opened at $183.55 on Monday. Northern Trust Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $118.99 and a fifty-two week high of $185.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $170.53 and a 200 day moving average of $154.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $33.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.25.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 11.29 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Northern Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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