Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Takes Position in Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,486,616 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $767,378,000 after purchasing an additional 92,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,904,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $501,444,000 after buying an additional 30,908 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,885,312 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $295,744,000 after buying an additional 202,327 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,532,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $259,571,000 after acquiring an additional 39,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,201,309 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $225,641,000 after acquiring an additional 62,605 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other news, EVP Clive Bellows sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.95, for a total transaction of $329,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 28,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,872,163.20. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Teresa Parker sold 6,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.62, for a total value of $650,709.54. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 79,391 shares in the company, valued at $7,988,322.42. This trade represents a 7.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,772 shares of company stock worth $981,069 in the last three months. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS opened at $125.91 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $24.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.26. Northern Trust Corporation has a 12-month low of $80.81 and a 12-month high of $133.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $112.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.45.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 13.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $89.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $123.00 price objective on Northern Trust and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Northern Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $103.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.50.

Northern Trust 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.