Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $146.09 and last traded at $144.5790, with a volume of 103374 shares. The stock had previously closed at $145.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NTRS. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $142.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Northern Trust from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Northern Trust from $135.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Truist Financial set a $148.00 target price on Northern Trust in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Northern Trust from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $136.00.

Northern Trust Trading Up 0.3%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.60. The company has a market cap of $27.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 11.99% and a return on equity of 14.37%. Northern Trust’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Northern Trust Corporation will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.30%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Susan Cohen Levy sold 27,591 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.13, for a total value of $3,535,234.83. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 48,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,183,169.41. The trade was a 36.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Landers sold 766 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.35, for a total transaction of $95,252.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 7,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $909,371.55. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 84.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $199,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in Northern Trust in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,118,000. Aviva PLC increased its stake in Northern Trust by 8.4% in the second quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 149,911 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,007,000 after purchasing an additional 11,587 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 5.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,907,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $241,840,000 after purchasing an additional 96,592 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 25.7% during the second quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 40,090 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,212,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Company Profile

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.