Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Makes New $663,000 Investment in Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,816 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northern Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $20,351,000. Haverford Trust Co purchased a new stake in Northern Trust in the second quarter worth $298,000. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in Northern Trust in the second quarter worth $6,762,000. Compass Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Northern Trust in the second quarter worth $289,000. Finally, Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Northern Trust during the second quarter valued at $636,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTRS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $179.50 to $185.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group set a $186.00 price target on shares of Northern Trust in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $176.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.68.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 255 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $179.57 per share, for a total transaction of $45,790.35. Following the purchase, the director owned 8,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,388. This trade represents a 3.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 1,800 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.90, for a total transaction of $332,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 92,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,180,353.30. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Northern Trust Trading Up 0.1%

Northern Trust stock opened at $186.82 on Wednesday. Northern Trust Corporation has a 12 month low of $121.12 and a 12 month high of $195.78. The company has a market capitalization of $34.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $163.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The asset manager reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $1.52. The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 16.91% and a net margin of 14.76%.The company’s revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northern Trust Corporation will post 11.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a positive change from Northern Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is currently 27.47%.

About Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in Chicago that provides asset servicing, asset management and wealth management solutions to institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals. The company’s core businesses include custody and fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, trust and fiduciary services, private banking, and retirement and defined contribution plan services.

Northern Trust’s product and service offerings span custody and fund accounting, portfolio and performance analytics, securities lending, cash management and foreign exchange, as well as discretionary and non-discretionary investment management.