Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Insider Guy Gibson Sells 1,043 Shares

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) insider Guy Gibson sold 1,043 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.43, for a total transaction of $153,769.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 35,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,966.59. The trade was a 2.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Northern Trust stock traded up $2.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $146.38. 920,538 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,119,143. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $143.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.09. Northern Trust Corporation has a 52-week low of $81.62 and a 52-week high of $157.60. The company has a market cap of $27.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 14.87% and a net margin of 12.15%.Northern Trust’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Northern Trust from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Northern Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $139.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Northern Trust from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTRS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,593,674 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,864,652,000 after buying an additional 188,472 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,493,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,285,236,000 after purchasing an additional 97,584 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,270,748 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 184,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.7% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,501,628 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $443,971,000 after acquiring an additional 58,029 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

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.