Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Short Interest Down 16.9% in March

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, a drop of 16.9% from the March 15th total of 2,480,000 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Northern Trust from a "peer perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $72.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $86.00 price target (up previously from $82.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Northern Trust from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $83.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northern Trust news, insider Steven L. Fradkin sold 30,392 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total value of $2,434,703.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,707 shares in the company, valued at $4,462,687.77. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northern Trust

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NTRS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Northern Trust by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,711,584 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,644,763,000 after acquiring an additional 457,748 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,791,735 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $749,810,000 after purchasing an additional 126,172 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,891,902 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $581,539,000 after buying an additional 394,855 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Northern Trust by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,533,855 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $551,327,000 after buying an additional 1,553,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Northern Trust by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,080,885 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $513,105,000 after buying an additional 1,468,262 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.19% of the company's stock.

Northern Trust Price Performance

NTRS stock traded down $1.10 on Friday, reaching $83.83. 1,112,956 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,618,120. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.00 and a 200-day moving average of $78.56. The firm has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Northern Trust has a twelve month low of $62.44 and a twelve month high of $90.30.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.81). Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.44% and a net margin of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. Northern Trust's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northern Trust will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Northern Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.06%.

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.