StockNews.com Upgrades Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on NTRS. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $92.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Northern Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.67.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS opened at $107.60 on Tuesday. Northern Trust has a twelve month low of $73.98 and a twelve month high of $108.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $95.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.86. The company has a market capitalization of $21.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.06.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is presently 37.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northern Trust news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total transaction of $1,698,972.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,476.46. The trade was a 78.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark C. Gossett sold 6,000 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $533,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,707 shares in the company, valued at $2,552,052.30. The trade was a 17.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 80,906 shares of company stock worth $8,176,652 in the last ninety days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Northern Trust in the second quarter worth $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northern Trust in the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Northern Trust during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 343.9% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

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.