Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $112.58.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on NTRS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $127.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northern Trust news, insider Jason J. Tyler sold 2,237 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.67, for a total value of $252,042.79. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,585,448.83. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 58,622 shares of company stock worth $6,426,307. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 9.9% in 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. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 68.1% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after buying an additional 5,578 shares in the last quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Northern Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $538,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 59,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,322,000 after acquiring an additional 4,564 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northern Trust Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ NTRS opened at $112.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.68. Northern Trust has a one year low of $76.67 and a one year high of $114.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.26 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.08.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Northern Trust will post 8.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.67%.

Northern Trust Company Profile

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.