Morgan Stanley Cuts Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Price Target to $125.00

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $127.00 to $125.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

NTRS has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.64.

Northern Trust Stock Up 0.3 %

NTRS stock opened at $103.28 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.41. The company has a market capitalization of $20.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.07. 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 12 month low of $76.67 and a 12 month high of $111.87.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Susan Cohen Levy sold 19,585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.26, for a total transaction of $2,002,762.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,751,918.32. This trade represents a 53.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Steven L. Fradkin sold 9,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total transaction of $1,010,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 47,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,305,467. The trade was a 15.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,151 shares of company stock worth $8,489,889 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northern Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 9.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after buying an additional 1,542,685 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 850,556 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 0.5% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,085,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $637,873,000 after buying an additional 38,360 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 9.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $386,809,000 after buying an additional 388,692 shares during the period. Finally, 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 worth $222,060,000 after buying an additional 91,816 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.