Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 84.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Northern Trust by 5.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,517 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Northern Trust by 9.1% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 16,317 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after buying an additional 1,358 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Northern Trust by 9.4% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 4,443 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Northern Trust by 8.4% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 84,974 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,383,000 after buying an additional 6,570 shares during the period. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 1,299.7% during the first quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 115,024 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,348,000 after purchasing an additional 106,806 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NTRS. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $142.00 target price for the company. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $135.00 target price on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.71.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS opened at $126.03 on Friday. Northern Trust Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $81.62 and a fifty-two week high of $135.48. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.12. The company has a market capitalization of $24.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. Northern Trust had a net margin of 11.99% and a return on equity of 14.37%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 256 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $126.34 per share, with a total value of $32,343.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,008.50. The trade was a 11.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Northern Trust

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.