Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $85.75.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NTRS. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS opened at $82.54 on Friday. Northern Trust has a 1 year low of $62.44 and a 1 year high of $89.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The asset manager reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.23. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.57% and a net margin of 7.59%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.79 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.23%.

Insider Activity

In other Northern Trust news, insider Steven L. Fradkin sold 4,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.56, for a total transaction of $338,248.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,804,199.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Steven L. Fradkin sold 4,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.56, for a total transaction of $338,248.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,804,199.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Peter Cherecwich sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.09, for a total transaction of $1,045,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,471 shares in the company, valued at $2,740,809.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTRS. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $489,640,000 after acquiring an additional 3,387,002 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,553,783 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northern Trust during the first quarter worth $105,665,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Northern Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $90,532,000. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,891,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $581,539,000 after purchasing an additional 394,855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.