Earnest Partners LLC Sells 76,346 Shares of Northern Trust Corporation $NTRS

Earnest Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS - Free Report) by 89.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,917 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 76,346 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC's holdings in Northern Trust were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 4.9% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,850,088 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $774,411,000 after purchasing an additional 363,472 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 19.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,443,599 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $339,711,000 after purchasing an additional 558,287 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 0.7% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,013,123 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $297,245,000 after purchasing an additional 20,010 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 47.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,810,816 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $178,637,000 after purchasing an additional 585,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,727,365 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $177,055,000 after acquiring an additional 150,274 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Northern Trust from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Northern Trust from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Northern Trust from $108.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Northern Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $117.08.

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Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Northern Trust

Northern Trust Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $130.99 on Friday. Northern Trust Corporation has a 1-year low of $81.62 and a 1-year high of $133.00. The business's 50-day moving average price is $126.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.28.

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Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 11.75%.The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.34 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Northern Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Northern Trust's payout ratio is currently 37.60%.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 256 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $126.34 per share, with a total value of $32,343.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,525 shares in the company, valued at $319,008.50. This trade represents a 11.28% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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