Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.30, Zacks reports. Northern Trust had a net margin of 10.92% and a return on equity of 12.75%.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS opened at $110.92 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $105.89 and its 200-day moving average is $96.59. The stock has a market cap of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.08. Northern Trust has a twelve month low of $76.67 and a twelve month high of $111.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 37.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTRS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.75.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In related news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total value of $1,698,972.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,476.46. The trade was a 78.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.80, for a total transaction of $529,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 49,756 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,184.80. This represents a 9.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,253 shares of company stock valued at $3,238,073 over the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.