Northern Trust (NTRS) Competitors

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Which has more risk and volatility, NTRS or FITB?

Northern Trust has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fifth Third Bancorp has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer NTRS or FITB?

Northern Trust presently has a consensus price target of $128.23, suggesting a potential downside of 3.15%. Fifth Third Bancorp has a consensus price target of $49.47, suggesting a potential upside of 11.40%. Given Fifth Third Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fifth Third Bancorp is more favorable than Northern Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northern Trust	3 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.06
Fifth Third Bancorp	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, NTRS or FITB?

Fifth Third Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Northern Trust. Fifth Third Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northern Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Northern Trust	$16.06B	1.58	$2.03B	$8.51	15.56
Fifth Third Bancorp	$13.28B	2.21	$2.31B	$3.22	13.79

Does the media prefer NTRS or FITB?

In the previous week, Fifth Third Bancorp had 3 more articles in the media than Northern Trust. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Fifth Third Bancorp and 22 mentions for Northern Trust. Northern Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Fifth Third Bancorp's score of 0.79 indicating that Northern Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northern Trust	18 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fifth Third Bancorp	13 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is NTRS or FITB a better dividend stock?

Northern Trust pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Fifth Third Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Northern Trust pays out 37.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fifth Third Bancorp pays out 49.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Fifth Third Bancorp has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Fifth Third Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is NTRS or FITB more profitable?

Fifth Third Bancorp has a net margin of 17.97% compared to Northern Trust's net margin of 11.75%. Northern Trust's return on equity of 14.06% beat Fifth Third Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northern Trust	11.75%	14.06%	1.04%
Fifth Third Bancorp	17.97%	13.31%	1.15%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of NTRS or FITB?

83.2% of Northern Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.8% of Fifth Third Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Northern Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Fifth Third Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Fifth Third Bancorp beats Northern Trust on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.