Clive Bellows Sells 3,300 Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Stock

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) EVP Clive Bellows sold 3,300 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.95, for a total value of $329,835.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,872,163.20. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $107.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $95.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $102.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.18. Northern Trust Co. has a one year low of $79.68 and a one year high of $114.67.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Northern Trust Co. will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is currently 27.99%.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 15,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,576,000 after buying an additional 954 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 42,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,903 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Agate Pass Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the fourth quarter worth $538,000. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTRS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Northern Trust from $136.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Northern Trust from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Northern Trust from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.83.

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.