Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Insider Clive Bellows Sells 1,148 Shares

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) insider Clive Bellows sold 1,148 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.26, for a total value of $166,758.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 34,133 shares in the company, valued at $4,958,159.58. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Northern Trust Stock Up 1.5%

NTRS stock traded up $2.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $146.38. 920,538 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,119,143. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $143.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.09. Northern Trust Corporation has a 52 week low of $81.62 and a 52 week high of $157.60. The company has a market cap of $27.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.27.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 14.87%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTRS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Northern Trust from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $139.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $136.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,593,674 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,864,652,000 after purchasing an additional 188,472 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Northern Trust by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,493,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,285,236,000 after buying an additional 97,584 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 19.5% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,793,757 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $988,170,000 after buying an additional 1,270,748 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,196,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $656,229,000 after buying an additional 184,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,501,628 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $443,971,000 after acquiring an additional 58,029 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.