Nicholas Company Inc. Sells 10,967 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Nicholas Company Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,967 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $11,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 22,061 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,286,000 after buying an additional 4,374 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $386,809,000 after buying an additional 388,692 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 68.1% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after buying an additional 5,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $1,059,000. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTRS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Northern Trust from $138.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,987,202.96. This represents a 49.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jason J. Tyler sold 2,237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.67, for a total value of $252,042.79. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,449 shares in the company, valued at $6,585,448.83. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,335 shares of company stock worth $3,970,211. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS opened at $97.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.16. Northern Trust Co. has a twelve month low of $79.32 and a twelve month high of $114.67.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.67%.

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.