Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $98.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Northern Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.67.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $106.63. The stock had a trading volume of 613,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,296,779. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.69. The firm has a market cap of $21.14 billion, a PE ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.06. Northern Trust has a twelve month low of $73.98 and a twelve month high of $108.53.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.31%.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In other news, Vice Chairman Steven L. Fradkin sold 27,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.50, for a total transaction of $2,801,337.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,630,839. This represents a 37.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Teresa Parker sold 4,439 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.86, for a total transaction of $447,717.54. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 79,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,000,820.36. This represents a 5.30 % 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 three months. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in Northern Trust by 9.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 13.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,413,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $622,596,000 after acquiring an additional 850,556 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 4,660.5% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 399,932 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,586,000 after acquiring an additional 391,531 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $591,787,000 after acquiring an additional 261,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Northern Trust by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,003,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $168,253,000 after purchasing an additional 219,387 shares during the period. 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.