Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Grows Position in Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden boosted its Northern Trust stake by 64.9% in the first quarter, buying 15,400 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 39,145 shares valued at about $5.46 million.
• Northern Trust reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings, with EPS of $2.71 versus the $2.37 estimate and revenue up 13.8% year over year to $2.21 billion.
• Wall Street remains cautious overall despite higher price targets, with the stock carrying a consensus Hold rating and an average target price of $170.69; Northern Trust also recently paid a $0.80 quarterly dividend.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS - Free Report) by 64.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,145 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 15,400 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Northern Trust were worth $5,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 559 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Northern Trust by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,379 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in Northern Trust by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 2,663 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 2.2% in the third quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,452 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $881,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NTRS shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Northern Trust from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $153.50 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $175.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.69.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS opened at $176.50 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $168.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.25. Northern Trust Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $118.99 and a fifty-two week high of $178.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.34. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 11.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Northern Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 225 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $166.41 per share, for a total transaction of $37,442.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,145 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,355,409.45. This represents a 2.84% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David W. Fox, Jr. sold 19,987 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.16, for a total transaction of $3,321,039.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,588 shares in the company, valued at $3,088,582.08. This represents a 51.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,800 shares of company stock valued at $3,785,251. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company's stock.

Northern Trust Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.