Gries Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 1,912 Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Gries Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,912 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NTRS. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,542 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. GTS Securities LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 291.2% during the 4th quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 3,948 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 6,013 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 1,103.3% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 722 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 106,503 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,917,000 after purchasing an additional 38,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 30,982 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,176,000 after purchasing an additional 4,626 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 256 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $126.34 per share, with a total value of $32,343.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 2,525 shares in the company, valued at $319,008.50. This represents a 11.28% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Northern Trust Stock Down 1.0%

NTRS opened at $130.52 on Wednesday. Northern Trust Corporation has a 12 month low of $81.62 and a 12 month high of $133.70. The company has a market cap of $24.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average of $128.57 and a 200 day moving average of $112.80.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 11.75%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This is a boost from Northern Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is presently 37.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NTRS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $123.00 target price on shares of Northern Trust and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Northern Trust has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $119.58.

Northern Trust Company Profile

Northern Trust Corporation, a financial holding company, provides wealth management, asset servicing, asset management, and banking solutions for corporations, institutions, families, and individuals worldwide. It operates in two segments, Asset Servicing and Wealth Management. The Asset Servicing segment offers asset servicing and related services, including custody, fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, investment management, investment risk and analytical services, employee benefit services, securities lending, foreign exchange, treasury management, brokerage services, transition management services, banking, and cash management services.