EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 9,228 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 359.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,797 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,228 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $1,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542,685 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 13.0% during the 2nd 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 increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,085,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $637,873,000 after purchasing an additional 38,360 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 3.6% during the 2nd 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. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 219,387 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Northern Trust Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $108.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $21.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $101.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.68. Northern Trust Co. has a 1 year low of $76.67 and a 1 year high of $111.87. 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northern Trust news, Vice Chairman Steven L. Fradkin sold 9,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total transaction of $1,010,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 47,797 shares in the company, valued at $5,305,467. This represents a 15.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles A. Tribbett sold 1,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.12, for a total value of $163,462.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,120. This represents a 64.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 84,006 shares of company stock worth $8,653,352 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Northern Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $84.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.00.

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.