Garland Capital Management Inc. Sells 25,735 Shares of Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Garland Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 75.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 25,735 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust comprises about 3.4% of Garland Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Garland Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $1,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTRS. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in Northern Trust by 84.8% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Northern Trust by 47.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,810,816 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $178,637,000 after buying an additional 585,992 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Northern Trust by 4.9% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,850,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $774,411,000 after buying an additional 363,472 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Northern Trust by 529.4% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 461,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $45,515,000 after buying an additional 388,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Northern Trust by 96.7% in the first quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 5,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 2,575 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 256 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $126.34 per share, for a total transaction of $32,343.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,525 shares in the company, valued at $319,008.50. This represents a 11.28% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $126.03 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $24.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.70. Northern Trust Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $81.62 and a fifty-two week high of $135.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.29.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. Northern Trust had a net margin of 11.99% and a return on equity of 14.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $123.00 price objective on shares of Northern Trust and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.71.

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.