Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $148.75.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore raised their price objective on Northern Trust from $142.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Northern Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Northern Trust from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Northern Trust from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $138.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $145.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.16. Northern Trust has a fifty-two week low of $81.62 and a fifty-two week high of $157.60. The firm has a market cap of $25.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.27.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 14.87%. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northern Trust news, insider Guy Gibson sold 3,009 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.39, for a total value of $428,451.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,176,583.48. This trade represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Clive Bellows sold 1,148 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.26, for a total transaction of $166,758.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 34,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,958,159.58. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 34,905 shares of company stock valued at $5,166,714 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Northern Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $276,087,000. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,793,757 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $988,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270,748 shares during the period. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $126,794,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,723,516 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $235,415,000 after purchasing an additional 703,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 2,397.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 657,026 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $83,304,000 after buying an additional 630,717 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

About Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in Chicago that provides asset servicing, asset management and wealth management solutions to institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals. The company’s core businesses include custody and fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, trust and fiduciary services, private banking, and retirement and defined contribution plan services.

Northern Trust’s product and service offerings span custody and fund accounting, portfolio and performance analytics, securities lending, cash management and foreign exchange, as well as discretionary and non-discretionary investment management.