Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Shares Sold by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC lessened its position in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS – Get Rating) by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 394 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,612,225 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $444,986,000 after buying an additional 1,510,570 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 51.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,457,214 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $295,798,000 after buying an additional 1,174,377 shares in the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 1,080.5% in the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 600,908 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $69,974,000 after buying an additional 550,006 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,711,584 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,644,763,000 after buying an additional 457,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 1,568.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 376,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,312,000 after buying an additional 353,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTRS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $121.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $105.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $97.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.05.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Jason J. Tyler sold 1,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.98, for a total value of $171,072.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,954,980.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Northern Trust stock opened at $84.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. Northern Trust Co. has a one year low of $76.15 and a one year high of $121.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $95.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.43.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 19th. The asset manager reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($1.10). The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 17.24% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Northern Trust Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.86%.

About Northern Trust

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Northern Trust Corp. is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of asset servicing, fund administration, asset management, fiduciary, and banking solutions for corporations, institutions, families, and individuals. It operates through the following segments: Corporate & Institutional Services and Wealth Management.