RBF Capital LLC Sells 7,000 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

RBF Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS - Free Report) by 42.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,600 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. RBF Capital LLC's holdings in Northern Trust were worth $984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,486,616 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $767,378,000 after acquiring an additional 92,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,904,871 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $501,444,000 after acquiring an additional 30,908 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $386,809,000 after acquiring an additional 388,692 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,885,312 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $295,744,000 after buying an additional 202,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Northern Trust by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,532,401 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $259,571,000 after buying an additional 39,592 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on NTRS. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $136.00 to $132.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $118.00 to $111.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $123.00 to $121.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of 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 two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $110.83.

Northern Trust Stock Up 0.4 %

NTRS traded up $0.41 on Monday, hitting $92.00. The company had a trading volume of 256,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,365,916. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.89. Northern Trust Co. has a 52-week low of $79.68 and a 52-week high of $114.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Northern Trust's payout ratio is 27.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jane Karpinski sold 2,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.33, for a total transaction of $251,828.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,918,883.88. This trade represents a 11.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,242,722. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,335 shares of company stock worth $3,970,211. Insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

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.