Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys 1,744 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,412 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,744 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $2,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NTRS. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Northern Trust by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 22,061 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,286,000 after purchasing an additional 4,374 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Northern Trust by 9.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 68.1% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 5,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in Northern Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $1,059,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Landers sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total transaction of $100,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $851,401.60. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $429,852.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 81,794 shares in the company, valued at $9,242,722. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211 in the last ninety days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NTRS shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Northern Trust from $138.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

Northern Trust Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $96.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Northern Trust Co. has a 1 year low of $79.30 and a 1 year high of $114.67. The company has a market cap of $18.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $107.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.00.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. Sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.67%.

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.