Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) Given Consensus Rating of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from thirteen analysts, with three ratings for sell, eight for hold, and two for buy.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.75 to $0.80, representing an annual yield of 2.46%.
• Northern Trust reported earnings of $2.13 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates by $0.05, despite a 26.4% decline in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.

Shares of Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $116.58.

A number of research firms have recently commented on NTRS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $118.00 price objective (down previously from $120.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Northern Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $123.00 to $121.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Northern Trust from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In related news, EVP Clive Bellows sold 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.95, for a total transaction of $329,835.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 28,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,872,163.20. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Teresa Parker sold 6,467 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.62, for a total value of $650,709.54. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 79,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,988,322.42. This represents a 7.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,772 shares of company stock worth $981,069. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northern Trust

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 83.5% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 45,184 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,631,000 after buying an additional 20,564 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 325,630 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $33,631,000 after buying an additional 32,629 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 22,413 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,297,000 after buying an additional 4,240 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 23,707 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,430,000 after buying an additional 1,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 10,863 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,113,000 after buying an additional 2,486 shares in the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS traded down $0.56 during trading on Monday, hitting $131.00. 261,127 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,632,387. The company has a market cap of $25.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.26. Northern Trust has a 1 year low of $80.81 and a 1 year high of $133.00. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $118.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.05. Northern Trust had a net margin of 11.75% and a return on equity of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.34 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a positive change from Northern Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Northern Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.25%.

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.