PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 1,612 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. decreased its position in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 125,176 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,612 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $12,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its position in Northern Trust by 118.4% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 51.2% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 378 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 528.3% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Northern Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. 83.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on NTRS. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $97.49 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.07. Northern Trust Co. has a fifty-two week low of $79.30 and a fifty-two week high of $114.67. The stock has a market cap of $19.08 billion, a PE ratio of 9.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted 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%. Analysts anticipate that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 81,794 shares in the company, valued at $9,242,722. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,335 shares of company stock worth $3,970,211 in the last quarter. 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.