Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.75.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Northern Trust stock traded up $1.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $110.92. 1,437,822 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,240,355. The company has a market cap of $21.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $105.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.40. Northern Trust has a twelve month low of $76.67 and a twelve month high of $111.87.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 10.92%. Equities analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 7.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Steven L. Fradkin sold 9,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total value of $1,010,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 47,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,305,467. This trade represents a 15.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total transaction of $1,698,972.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,397 shares in the company, valued at $462,476.46. This trade represents a 78.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,253 shares of company stock worth $3,238,073 over the last quarter. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTRS. FMR LLC grew its position in Northern Trust by 9.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,685 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,085,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $637,873,000 after purchasing an additional 38,360 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,577,091 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $141,986,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in Northern Trust by 201.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 963,811 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,791,000 after buying an additional 644,261 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Company Profile

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.