Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Invests $79.64 Million in Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 458,107 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $79,637,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec owned 0.25% of Northern Trust as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NTRS. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Northern Trust in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Northern Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 99.0% during the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new position in Northern Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Northern Trust from $162.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Northern Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Evercore set a $179.00 price objective on shares of Northern Trust in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Northern Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $180.68.

Insider Activity

In other Northern Trust news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $179.57 per share, for a total transaction of $45,790.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 8,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,388. This represents a 3.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.90, for a total value of $332,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 92,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,180,353.30. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

NTRS opened at $186.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $34.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.39. Northern Trust Corporation has a 1-year low of $121.12 and a 1-year high of $195.78.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The asset manager reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $1.52. The company had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northern Trust Corporation will post 11.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a boost from Northern Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is currently 27.47%.

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.