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

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $163.5455.

NTRS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $159.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Northern Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $151.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd.

Northern Trust Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $161.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.27. Northern Trust has a 1-year low of $96.28 and a 1-year high of $173.18. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $147.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Northern Trust will post 10.63 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.51%.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In other news, Director Richard Petrino purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $148.91 per share, for a total transaction of $148,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,332 shares in the company, valued at $496,168.12. This represents a 42.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO David W. Fox, Jr. sold 19,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.16, for a total transaction of $3,321,039.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,088,582.08. This represents a 51.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 32,705 shares of company stock valued at $5,211,464 in the last quarter. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 1.3% during the first quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 2.0% during the first quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 4.9% during the third quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 13.1% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 682 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 16.5% during the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 559 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Company Profile

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.