Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Upgraded to Hold at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on NTRS. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $135.00 target price on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $128.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.23.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

NTRS stock opened at $132.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $129.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.59. The company has a market capitalization of $25.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.31. Northern Trust has a 1-year low of $81.62 and a 1-year high of $135.48.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 11.75%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Northern Trust will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Northern Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 256 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $126.34 per share, for a total transaction of $32,343.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,525 shares in the company, valued at $319,008.50. The trade was a 11.28% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northern Trust

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTRS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Northern Trust by 47.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,810,816 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $178,637,000 after buying an additional 585,992 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Northern Trust by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,850,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $774,411,000 after buying an additional 363,472 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Northern Trust by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 84,974 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,383,000 after buying an additional 6,570 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Northern Trust by 529.4% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 461,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $45,515,000 after buying an additional 388,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in Northern Trust by 96.7% during the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 5,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 2,575 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.