Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp's latest 13F filing reveals the extraordinary scale and active nature of this custody banking giant's operations, with $727.2 trillion in assets under management spread across an astounding 20,680 positions. The firm's 100% quarterly turnover rate and the addition of over 20,000 new positions while exiting none suggests a highly dynamic operational model that likely reflects its role as a custody provider managing assets on behalf of numerous institutional clients rather than traditional active portfolio management.

The portfolio's structure tells a compelling story about modern institutional asset allocation, with technology representing the largest sector exposure at 15.9%, followed by semiconductors at 11.7%. The top holdings showcase multiple positions in the same mega-cap names like NVIDIA, Apple, and Microsoft, with position values ranging from roughly $15.7 trillion to $33 trillion. This duplication pattern, combined with the extremely low Herfindahl-Hirschman Index of 0.007 indicating maximum diversification, strongly suggests these holdings represent separate client accounts or investment vehicles rather than a single unified strategy.

The concentration in technology titans like NVIDIA (appearing three times in the top ten), Apple (three positions), and Microsoft (three positions) mirrors broader institutional preferences for large-cap technology exposure, while the relatively modest top 10 weight of 21.6% across such a massive portfolio underscores the truly diversified nature of Northern Trust's custody operations. This filing essentially provides a window into the aggregate positioning preferences of the institutional investment community that relies on Northern Trust's custodial services, rather than reflecting any singular investment thesis from the bank itself.

Analysis generated Apr 5, 2026