Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Shares Gap Up to $79.56

Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $79.56, but opened at $81.29. Northern Trust shares last traded at $81.82, with a volume of 215,243 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on NTRS shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $72.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Northern Trust from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.09.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $16.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by ($0.81). The firm had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 12.44%. Northern Trust’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust Co. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other news, insider Steven L. Fradkin sold 30,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total value of $2,434,703.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 55,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,462,687.77. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NTRS. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Northern Trust by 140.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,802,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $489,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,387,002 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,533,855 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $551,327,000 after buying an additional 1,553,783 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Northern Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $134,901,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Northern Trust by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,080,885 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $513,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468,262 shares during the period. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $105,665,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

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.