Merit Financial Group LLC Sells 440 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its position in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 15.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 440 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NTRS. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 333.5% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 13,655 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 158.7% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 934 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 91,222 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,350,000 after acquiring an additional 13,081 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Northern Trust by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 235,430 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 34,954 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,583,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other news, EVP Clive Bellows sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.95, for a total transaction of $329,835.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,872,163.20. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Teresa Parker sold 6,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.62, for a total transaction of $650,709.54. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 79,391 shares in the company, valued at $7,988,322.42. This represents a 7.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,772 shares of company stock valued at $981,069 in the last three months. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTRS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $118.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $103.00 price target (up previously from $101.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Northern Trust from $98.00 to $92.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.42.

Northern Trust Stock Up 0.6%

Northern Trust stock opened at $109.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.22. 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 twelve month low of $80.45 and a twelve month high of $114.67. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $99.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.25.

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

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.99%.

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.