Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 152 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,164 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 13.0% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,413,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $622,596,000 after buying an additional 850,556 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 4,660.5% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 399,932 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,586,000 after purchasing an additional 391,531 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,046,757 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $591,787,000 after purchasing an additional 261,285 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 12.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $168,253,000 after purchasing an additional 219,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 55.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 597,146 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $49,575,000 after purchasing an additional 212,089 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Northern Trust stock opened at $107.60 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Northern Trust Co. has a 1 year low of $73.98 and a 1 year high of $108.53. The firm has a market cap of $21.33 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.94.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In related news, EVP Thomas A. South sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.80, for a total transaction of $529,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 49,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,184.80. This trade represents a 9.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Steven L. Fradkin sold 27,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.50, for a total value of $2,801,337.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,630,839. This represents a 37.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 80,906 shares of company stock worth $8,176,652 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NTRS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Northern Trust from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.67.

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.