Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Plans $0.75 Quarterly Dividend

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the asset manager on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Northern Trust has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.3% per year over the last three years. Northern Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 36.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Northern Trust to earn $7.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.3%.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $109.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $105.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $21.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.08. Northern Trust has a 52-week low of $76.67 and a 52-week high of $111.87.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 10.92%. Research analysts predict that Northern Trust will post 7.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In related news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total transaction of $1,698,972.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,476.46. This trade represents a 78.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Steven L. Fradkin sold 9,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total value of $1,010,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 47,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,305,467. The trade was a 15.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,253 shares of company stock valued at $3,238,073 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTRS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Northern Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Northern Trust from $127.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.17.

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.