Townsquare Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,079 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,486,616 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $767,378,000 after buying an additional 92,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,904,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $501,444,000 after acquiring an additional 30,908 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings 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 worth $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,885,312 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $295,744,000 after purchasing an additional 202,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,532,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $259,571,000 after purchasing an additional 39,592 shares during the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NTRS. Bank of America dropped their target price on Northern Trust from $123.00 to $121.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Landers sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total transaction of $100,296.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $851,401.60. This represents a 10.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $429,852.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 81,794 shares of the company’s stock, 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 a total of 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211 in the last three months. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ NTRS opened at $90.60 on Thursday. Northern Trust Co. has a 1 year low of $79.68 and a 1 year high of $114.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $17.73 billion, a PE ratio of 9.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $98.61 and a 200 day moving average of $102.71.

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

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 30.67%.

Northern Trust Company 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.