Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) Receives $128.23 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $128.2308.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NTRS. Wolfe Research upgraded Northern Trust from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Northern Trust from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Zacks Research downgraded Northern Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $128.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $124.82 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $129.58 and a 200-day moving average of $116.58. Northern Trust has a 12 month low of $81.62 and a 12 month high of $135.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.31.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a net margin of 11.75% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Northern Trust will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Northern Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 256 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $126.34 per share, for a total transaction of $32,343.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,008.50. The trade was a 11.28% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTRS. Retireful LLC bought a new position in Northern Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $581,000. Ethic Inc. increased its position in Northern Trust by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 40,416 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,440,000 after acquiring an additional 4,334 shares during the period. Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the third quarter valued at $811,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 16.1% during the third quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 8.4% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,298 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during 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.