Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 4,546 Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,546 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $466,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 22,061 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,286,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $386,809,000 after acquiring an additional 388,692 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 68.1% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 5,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,059,000. 83.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on NTRS. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $138.00 to $136.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northern Trust from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Northern Trust currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $113.50.

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Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.36, for a total transaction of $2,936,191.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 26,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,987,202.96. This trade represents a 49.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,242,722. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Northern Trust Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:NTRS traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $104.32. The company had a trading volume of 1,294,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,244,378. The company has a market capitalization of $20.42 billion, a PE ratio of 10.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $108.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.91. Northern Trust Co. has a 52 week low of $79.30 and a 52 week 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.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.67%.

Northern Trust 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.