Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Short Interest Down 19.3% in March

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,720,000 shares, a drop of 19.3% from the March 15th total of 3,370,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,360,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.36, for a total transaction of $2,936,191.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,987,202.96. This trade represents a 49.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $429,852.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 81,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,242,722. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,335 shares of company stock worth $3,970,211 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 5.2% in the first quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 14,328 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,413,000 after buying an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 56.6% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,571 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,652 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 8,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the first quarter valued at about $351,000. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Northern Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $297,000. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTRS traded up $0.86 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.29. 1,463,261 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,250,486. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $99.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $17.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10. Northern Trust has a 1 year low of $79.68 and a 1 year high of $114.67.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Northern Trust will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NTRS shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.08.

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.