Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS Shares Purchased by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,894,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 161,826 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $395,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTRS. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Northern Trust during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Northern Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northern Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northern Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Northern Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. 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 Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.16, for a total value of $3,321,039.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,088,582.08. The trade was a 51.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Clive Bellows sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.02, for a total transaction of $462,056.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 28,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,656,369.34. This represents a 9.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 22,800 shares of company stock worth $3,785,251. 0.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Northern Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $168.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. 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. Zacks Research raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $153.50 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Barclays increased 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 note on Wednesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.08.

Northern Trust Stock Up 2.7%

NTRS opened at $173.06 on Friday. Northern Trust Corporation has a 52 week low of $105.43 and a 52 week high of $173.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $158.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $32.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.25.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.34. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Northern Trust Corporation will post 10.68 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio 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.