Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Cut to "Sell" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Northern Trust was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating, reflecting a shift in analyst sentiment towards the company's stock.
• Despite the downgrade, other analysts such as Evercore ISI and Wells Fargo have increased their price targets for Northern Trust, indicating mixed market opinions on its future performance.
• As of the last earnings report, Northern Trust reported an EPS of $2.29, above analysts' estimates, and a revenue of $2.03 billion, marking a 2.8% increase from the prior year.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

NTRS has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Zacks Research cut shares of Northern Trust from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $130.71.

Northern Trust Stock Up 1.0%

NTRS opened at $126.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.31. Northern Trust has a 12 month low of $81.62 and a 12 month high of $135.48.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 14.37% and a net margin of 11.99%.The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. Northern Trust's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Northern Trust will post 8.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 256 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $126.34 per share, for a total transaction of $32,343.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $319,008.50. This trade represents a 11.28% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northern Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTRS. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Northern Trust by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,517 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 9.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 16,317 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,610,000 after buying an additional 1,358 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 9.4% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 4,443 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 8.4% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 84,974 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $8,383,000 after buying an additional 6,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1,299.7% in the first quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 115,024 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,348,000 after buying an additional 106,806 shares during the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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