Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $89.75.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NTRS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Northern Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $84.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Northern Trust from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Northern Trust from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Northern Trust from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northern Trust news, Director Charles A. Tribbett sold 1,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.12, for a total value of $163,462.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $88,120. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Charles A. Tribbett sold 1,855 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.12, for a total transaction of $163,462.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $88,120. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark C. Gossett sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total value of $533,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,552,052.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,738 shares of company stock worth $1,191,388 over the last quarter. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 13.0% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,413,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $622,596,000 after purchasing an additional 850,556 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 3.9% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,046,757 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $591,787,000 after purchasing an additional 261,285 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 140.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,802,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $489,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,387,002 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 3.6% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,644,205 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $222,060,000 after buying an additional 91,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 12.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $168,253,000 after buying an additional 219,387 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $90.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $18.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Northern Trust has a 1 year low of $62.44 and a 1 year high of $92.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $87.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.68.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The asset manager reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 10.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 53.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 66.23%.

About Northern Trust

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.