Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS Stake Cut by Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd cut its position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 56.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,607 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 46,568 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $5,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,493,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,285,236,000 after buying an additional 97,584 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 6.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,378,196 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $320,092,000 after buying an additional 133,751 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 2.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,947,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $262,128,000 after buying an additional 40,048 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 4.8% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,924,707 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $259,066,000 after buying an additional 88,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 3.5% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,414,595 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $190,404,000 after buying an additional 48,417 shares during the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on NTRS shares. Barclays raised their target price on Northern Trust from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore raised their target price on Northern Trust from $142.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Northern Trust from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on Northern Trust from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Northern Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Guy Gibson sold 3,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.39, for a total transaction of $428,451.51. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,176,583.48. This trade represents a 9.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $166.41 per share, for a total transaction of $37,442.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 8,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,355,409.45. This trade represents a 2.84% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 30,514 shares of company stock valued at $4,890,937 over the last three months. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $162.97 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.27. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $104.09 and a one year high of $173.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $149.71 and its 200-day moving average is $142.74.

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

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.51%.

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.