Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Shares Sold by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. cut its stake in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 70.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,061 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,824 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 9.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after buying an additional 1,542,685 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 201.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 963,811 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,791,000 after purchasing an additional 644,261 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 678,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,542,000 after purchasing an additional 261,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the third quarter worth $7,682,000. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NTRS. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Northern Trust from $138.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.85.

Northern Trust Stock Down 0.2 %

Northern Trust stock opened at $101.44 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $107.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.73. Northern Trust Co. has a twelve month low of $79.32 and a twelve month high of $114.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.37, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.36, for a total value of $2,936,191.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 26,586 shares in the company, valued at $2,987,202.96. This trade represents a 49.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 approximately $9,242,722. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

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.