Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Price Target Raised to $115.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) had its price target upped by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $107.00 to $115.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.56% from the company’s current price.

NTRS has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $127.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.75.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ NTRS traded up $1.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $111.05. The stock had a trading volume of 632,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,184,931. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $22.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.81, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $105.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.40. Northern Trust has a twelve month low of $76.67 and a twelve month high of $111.87.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a net margin of 10.92% and a return on equity of 12.75%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Northern Trust will post 7.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total value of $1,698,972.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,397 shares in the company, valued at $462,476.46. The trade was a 78.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.80, for a total value of $529,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 49,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,184.80. This trade represents a 9.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,253 shares of company stock valued at $3,238,073. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTRS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Northern Trust by 9.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,296,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $386,809,000 after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after buying an additional 5,578 shares during the period. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northern Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $538,000. Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 8.4% in the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 59,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,322,000 after buying an additional 4,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 327.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 28,510 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,567,000 after acquiring an additional 21,835 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

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.