Northern Trust Corp Purchases 846,963 Shares of BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP) by 58.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,294,562 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 846,963 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.09% of BHP Group worth $112,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in BHP Group by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 13,856 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $677,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of BHP Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,150 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $544,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BHP Group by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 4,353 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of BHP Group by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 7,483 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Passumpsic Savings Bank raised its position in BHP Group by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 4,873 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. 3.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BHP. Clarkson Capital raised BHP Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut BHP Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on BHP Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BHP Group has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

BHP Group Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BHP opened at $48.86 on Friday. BHP Group Limited has a 1 year low of $39.73 and a 1 year high of $63.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $47.75 and its 200 day moving average is $50.35. The company has a market cap of $123.90 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 0.86.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.8%. BHP Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.77%.

BHP Group Company Profile

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.