Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Trims Position in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lessened its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 25.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,582 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 2.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 452,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,757,000 after purchasing an additional 10,202 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 67.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,990 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $36,371,000 after purchasing an additional 162,623 shares in the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 5.9% during the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 2,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 17.1% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,133 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $192,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 4.8% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other news, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,242,722. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Landers sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total value of $100,296.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $851,401.60. The trade was a 10.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NTRS stock opened at $97.88 on Friday. Northern Trust Co. has a twelve month low of $79.32 and a twelve month high of $114.67. The stock has a market cap of $19.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $107.74 and its 200 day moving average is $102.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. Research analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on NTRS. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.50.

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.