Brokerages Set Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) PT at $105.00

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $105.00.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised Northern Trust from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $103.00 to $127.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

Insider Activity

In other Northern Trust news, EVP Susan Cohen Levy sold 19,585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.26, for a total value of $2,002,762.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,751,918.32. This represents a 53.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Steven L. Fradkin sold 9,100 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total transaction of $1,010,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 47,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,305,467. This represents a 15.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,151 shares of company stock valued at $8,489,889 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 9.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,685 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Northern Trust by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,413,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $622,596,000 after purchasing an additional 850,556 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 4,660.5% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 399,932 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,586,000 after buying an additional 391,531 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in Northern Trust by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,046,757 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $591,787,000 after buying an additional 261,285 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 12.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $168,253,000 after buying an additional 219,387 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS opened at $102.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.07. Northern Trust has a one year low of $76.67 and a one year high of $111.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 37.31%.

About Northern Trust

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.