Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) is favoured by institutional owners who hold 87% of the company

Yahoo

26-05-2025

Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Northern Trust's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
The top 11 shareholders own 50% of the company
Recent sales by insiders
Our free stock report includes 2 warning signs investors should be aware of before investing in Northern Trust. Read for free now.
A look at the shareholders of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 87% to be precise, is institutions. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Northern Trust, beginning with the chart below.
View our latest analysis for Northern Trust
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
We can see that Northern Trust does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Northern Trust, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Northern Trust. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc. with 12% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 7.9% and 6.9%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.
After doing some more digging, we found that the top 11 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.
While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Northern Trust Corporation. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own US$294m worth of shares (at current prices). we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.
With a 12% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Northern Trust. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Northern Trust better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Northern Trust is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is concerning...
If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
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