Insider Selling: Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) COO Sells $3,740,500.00 in Stock

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) COO Peter Cherecwich sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.62, for a total value of $3,740,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 26,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,928,871.58. The trade was a 48.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NASDAQ NTRS opened at $150.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.49 billion, a PE ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $139.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $132.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Northern Trust Corporation has a 12-month low of $81.62 and a 12-month high of $157.60.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 14.87%. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on NTRS. Citigroup raised their target price on Northern Trust from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Northern Trust from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,593,674 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,864,652,000 after buying an additional 188,472 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Northern Trust by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,493,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,285,236,000 after buying an additional 97,584 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 19.5% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,793,757 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $988,170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270,748 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,196,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $656,229,000 after purchasing an additional 184,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Northern Trust by 1.7% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,501,628 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $443,971,000 after acquiring an additional 58,029 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in Chicago that provides asset servicing, asset management and wealth management solutions to institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals. The company’s core businesses include custody and fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, trust and fiduciary services, private banking, and retirement and defined contribution plan services.

Northern Trust’s product and service offerings span custody and fund accounting, portfolio and performance analytics, securities lending, cash management and foreign exchange, as well as discretionary and non-discretionary investment management.