Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has $168.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $142.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.55.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Northern Trust stock opened at $151.74 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $143.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.23. Northern Trust has a fifty-two week low of $83.01 and a fifty-two week high of $157.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.05. The firm 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%. Northern Trust’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 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Northern Trust will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.61%.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other news, insider Clive Bellows sold 1,148 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.26, for a total value of $166,758.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 34,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,958,159.58. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Guy Gibson sold 3,009 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was 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 approximately $4,176,583.48. This trade represents a 9.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,905 shares of company stock worth $5,166,714. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 2.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,947,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $262,128,000 after purchasing an additional 40,048 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Northern Trust during the third quarter worth about $2,253,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 62.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,042,084 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $140,265,000 after purchasing an additional 400,247 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Northern Trust during the third quarter worth about $64,863,000. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 119.9% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 83,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,195,000 after purchasing an additional 45,356 shares during the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.