Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 30.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 107,921 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,397 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $9,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTRS. FMR LLC grew its position in Northern Trust by 1.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,791,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $749,810,000 after acquiring an additional 126,172 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in Northern Trust by 4.2% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,497,047 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $451,415,000 after acquiring an additional 264,805 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Northern Trust by 1.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,955,048 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $413,757,000 after acquiring an additional 89,696 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Northern Trust by 1.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,980,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $346,015,000 after acquiring an additional 64,707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Northern Trust by 2.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,486,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $311,746,000 after acquiring an additional 119,484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on NTRS. TheStreet raised shares of Northern Trust from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Barclays increased their target price on Northern Trust from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Bank of America increased their target price on Northern Trust from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Wolfe Research cut Northern Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Steven L. Fradkin sold 30,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total transaction of $2,434,703.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 55,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,462,687.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $84.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Northern Trust Co. has a one year low of $62.44 and a one year high of $89.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $83.44 and its 200-day moving average is $79.34.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.23%.

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.