ING Groep NV Decreases Stock Holdings in Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

ING Groep NV reduced its position in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 59.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15,142 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 850,556 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 3.9% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 3.6% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,644,205 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $222,060,000 after purchasing an additional 91,816 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 12.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $168,253,000 after purchasing an additional 219,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 2.0% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,401,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $117,713,000 after purchasing an additional 26,984 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $98.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.67.

Northern Trust Stock Up 1.5 %

NTRS 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 fifty day moving average price of $95.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.94. The firm has a market cap of $21.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.06.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other news, EVP Mark C. Gossett sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $533,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,552,052.30. This represents a 17.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total transaction of $1,698,972.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,476.46. This represents a 78.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 80,906 shares of company stock worth $8,176,652. 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.