American Century Companies Inc. Has $306.79 Million Position in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,993,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,068,259 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $306,794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 9.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,637,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,685 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 201.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 963,811 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,791,000 after acquiring an additional 644,261 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 valued at $386,809,000 after acquiring an additional 388,692 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 62.8% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 678,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $69,542,000 after acquiring an additional 261,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 359,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $36,829,000 after buying an additional 118,544 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NTRS. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.50.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS stock opened at $98.77 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $79.32 and a 12 month high of $114.67. The firm has a market cap of $19.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $107.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.37.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In related news, EVP Jane Karpinski sold 2,262 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.33, for a total transaction of $251,828.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,883.88. The trade was a 11.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of Northern Trust 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares in the company, valued at $9,242,722. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 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.

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.