Dearborn Partners LLC Sells 580 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Dearborn Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,794 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 580 shares during the quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $1,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 118.4% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 249 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Northern Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 378 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 528.3% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jane Karpinski sold 2,262 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.33, for a total value of $251,828.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,883.88. This trade represents a 11.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,242,722. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $101.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. Northern Trust Co. has a 52 week low of $79.30 and a 52 week high of $114.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $108.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.68.

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

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 30.67%.

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.