Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 152 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,164 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 152 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Northern Trust were worth $645,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake 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 valued at $622,596,000 after acquiring an additional 850,556 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,046,757 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $591,787,000 after purchasing an additional 261,285 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC raised its position 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 valued at $222,060,000 after purchasing an additional 91,816 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $168,253,000 after buying an additional 219,387 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake 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 valued at $117,713,000 after buying an additional 26,984 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS opened at $107.60 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $21.33 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $95.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.94. Northern Trust Co. has a 1 year low of $73.98 and a 1 year high of $108.53. 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 37.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Northern Trust news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,476.46. This represents a 78.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 5,000 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.80, for a total transaction of $529,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 49,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,184.80. This represents a 9.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 80,906 shares of company stock worth $8,176,652 over the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.67.

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.