Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS Shares Bought by Ascent Group LLC

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in Northern Trust Corporation by 133.6%, acquiring an additional 3,806 shares this quarter, bringing total ownership to 6,655 shares valued at $657,000.
• Northern Trust reported a quarterly EPS of $2.13, exceeding estimates, but experienced a 26.4% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.80, up from the previous $0.75, indicating increasing shareholder returns.

Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS - Free Report) by 133.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,655 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 3,806 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Northern Trust were worth $657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTRS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 47.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,810,816 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $178,637,000 after acquiring an additional 585,992 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,497,484 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $153,493,000 after purchasing an additional 562,976 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,443,599 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $339,711,000 after purchasing an additional 558,287 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,197,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 10,340.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 445,602 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $43,959,000 after buying an additional 441,334 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 256 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $126.34 per share, with a total value of $32,343.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at $319,008.50. This represents a 11.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Northern Trust Stock Down 0.0%

Northern Trust stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $129.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 801,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 902,200. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $127.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.62. Northern Trust Corporation has a 52-week low of $81.62 and a 52-week high of $133.00.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 11.75% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This is an increase from Northern Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Northern Trust's dividend payout ratio is 37.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTRS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Northern Trust from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Northern Trust from $108.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Northern Trust from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $119.58.

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.