Brokerages Set Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) PT at $108.42

Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $108.42.

NTRS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $103.00 target price (up previously from $101.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $118.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $123.00 to $121.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $98.00 to $92.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Northern Trust stock opened at $109.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $99.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.25. Northern Trust has a 12-month low of $80.45 and a 12-month high of $114.67. The stock has a market cap of $21.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Teresa Parker sold 6,467 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.62, for a total value of $650,709.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 79,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,988,322.42. This trade represents a 7.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Clive Bellows sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.95, for a total value of $329,835.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,872,163.20. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,772 shares of company stock worth $981,069 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Northern Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $83,550,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 47.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,810,816 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $178,637,000 after purchasing an additional 585,992 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,497,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $153,493,000 after purchasing an additional 562,976 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 19.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,443,599 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $339,711,000 after buying an additional 558,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Northern Trust by 451.9% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 555,631 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,866,000 after buying an additional 454,956 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

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.