S.A. Mason LLC Reduces Position in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

S.A. Mason LLC lowered its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $84,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTRS. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 59.2% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 11,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 4,460 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northern Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $94,000. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. raised its stake in Northern Trust by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 70,384 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,939,000 after purchasing an additional 23,859 shares during the period. Carlson Capital Management bought a new position in Northern Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $290,000. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Northern Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NTRS opened at $87.75 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $81.40 and a 200 day moving average of $77.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Northern Trust Co. has a 1-year low of $62.44 and a 1-year high of $90.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.27, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.12.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.81). The firm had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.44% and a net margin of 9.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 6.32 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 7th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 59.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on NTRS. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $86.00 price target (up from $82.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $99.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. TheStreet raised shares of Northern Trust from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northern Trust news, insider Steven L. Fradkin sold 30,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total value of $2,434,703.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 55,707 shares in the company, valued at $4,462,687.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.