New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 9,148 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 212,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,148 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.10% of Northern Trust worth $17,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 140.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,802,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $489,640,000 after acquiring an additional 3,387,002 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Northern Trust by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,533,855 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $551,327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553,783 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Northern Trust during the first quarter worth about $105,665,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Northern Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,532,000. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,891,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $581,539,000 after purchasing an additional 394,855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRS traded up $1.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $88.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 359,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,334,497. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.25, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $85.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Northern Trust Co. has a fifty-two week low of $62.44 and a fifty-two week high of $92.46.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The asset manager reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.03. Northern Trust had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $2.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.79 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 53.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Northern Trust Co. will post 7.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NTRS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Northern Trust from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Northern Trust from $85.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Northern Trust from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Teresa Parker sold 5,883 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.06, for a total transaction of $494,524.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 83,765 shares in the company, valued at $7,041,285.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Company 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.