Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Price Target Raised to $179.50 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target on Northern Trust to $179.50 from $170.00, while keeping a neutral rating on the stock. The new target implies only a slight upside from the current share price.
• Other analysts have also turned more positive on NTRS, with firms including BMO Capital Markets, RBC, Zacks Research, and Wells Fargo all lifting targets or upgrading ratings. MarketBeat says the stock’s overall analyst consensus remains Hold, with an average price target of $171.42.
• Northern Trust recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $2.71 EPS versus $2.37 expected and $2.21 billion in revenue versus $2.13 billion expected. The stock was also trading near its 52-week high, and insiders have been selling shares recently.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $170.00 to $179.50 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the asset manager's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 0.57% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on NTRS. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Northern Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $168.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Northern Trust from $159.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $175.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $171.42.

Northern Trust Stock Up 1.1%

NTRS opened at $178.48 on Monday. Northern Trust has a 1 year low of $118.99 and a 1 year high of $178.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $168.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $33.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.25.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.13 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 15.94%. Northern Trust's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 11.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO David W. Fox, Jr. sold 19,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.16, for a total value of $3,321,039.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,088,582.08. This represents a 51.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Clive Bellows sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.02, for a total transaction of $462,056.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,217 shares in the company, valued at $4,656,369.34. This trade represents a 9.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,800 shares of company stock worth $3,785,251. Insiders own 0.66% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Northern Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTRS. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,493,634 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,285,236,000 after acquiring an additional 97,584 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,747,840 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $511,917,000 after purchasing an additional 301,164 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,894,755 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $395,395,000 after purchasing an additional 161,826 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Northern Trust by 1.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,455,996 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $342,744,000 after purchasing an additional 36,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Northern Trust by 4.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,036,137 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $284,184,000 after purchasing an additional 83,117 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company's stock.

About Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation NASDAQ: NTRS is a global financial services firm headquartered in Chicago that provides asset servicing, asset management and wealth management solutions to institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals. The company's core businesses include custody and fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, trust and fiduciary services, private banking, and retirement and defined contribution plan services.

Northern Trust's product and service offerings span custody and fund accounting, portfolio and performance analytics, securities lending, cash management and foreign exchange, as well as discretionary and non-discretionary investment management.

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