Guggenheim Capital LLC Lowers Stock Position in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Guggenheim Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 63.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,562 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 11,535 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $673,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 0.6% in the 4th 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $386,809,000 after acquiring an additional 388,692 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Northern Trust by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,885,312 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $295,744,000 after acquiring an additional 202,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,532,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $259,571,000 after acquiring an additional 39,592 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northern Trust news, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 directly owns 81,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,242,722. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.36, for a total transaction of $2,936,191.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 26,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,987,202.96. This trade represents a 49.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,335 shares of company stock worth $3,970,211. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS opened at $92.40 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. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.72. Northern Trust Co. has a 12 month low of $79.68 and a 12 month high of $114.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. Analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 30.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NTRS shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.83.

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.