Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Price Target Raised to $165.00

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) had its price objective upped by TD Cowen from $155.00 to $165.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial set a $148.00 price target on shares of Northern Trust in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on Northern Trust from $136.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup raised their target price on Northern Trust from $135.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Northern Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $136.00.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS stock opened at $145.74 on Wednesday. Northern Trust has a 1 year low of $81.62 and a 1 year high of $146.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.56 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.46.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.03. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 14.37% and a net margin of 11.99%.The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.22 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Thursday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 37.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Landers sold 766 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.35, for a total transaction of $95,252.10. Following the sale, the insider owned 7,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $909,371.55. This represents a 9.48% 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, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 3,891 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $128.57 per share, with a total value of $500,265.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 6,686 shares in the company, valued at $859,619.02. This represents a 139.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 84.8% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in shares of Northern Trust in the second quarter worth $3,118,000. Aviva PLC raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 149,911 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,007,000 after purchasing an additional 11,587 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,907,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $241,840,000 after buying an additional 96,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 25.7% in the second quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 40,090 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,212,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.