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 investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

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

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

Is NTRS or FITB more profitable?

Fifth Third Bancorp has a net margin of 17.65% compared to Northern Trust's net margin of 13.93%. Northern Trust's return on equity of 13.73% beat Fifth Third Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northern Trust	13.93%	13.73%	1.03%
Fifth Third Bancorp	17.65%	13.64%	1.14%

Do analysts recommend NTRS or FITB?

Northern Trust presently has a consensus price target of $114.67, indicating a potential downside of 10.77%. Fifth Third Bancorp has a consensus price target of $47.53, indicating a potential upside of 10.35%. Given Fifth Third Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fifth Third Bancorp is more favorable than Northern Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northern Trust	2 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Fifth Third Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.84

Which has more volatility & risk, NTRS or FITB?

Northern Trust has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fifth Third Bancorp has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, NTRS or FITB?

Fifth Third Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Northern Trust. Northern Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fifth Third Bancorp, 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	1.56	$2.03B	$10.72	11.99
Fifth Third Bancorp	$13.28B	2.17	$2.31B	$3.15	13.67

Does the media refer more to NTRS or FITB?

In the previous week, Northern Trust had 10 more articles in the media than Fifth Third Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Northern Trust and 15 mentions for Fifth Third Bancorp. Northern Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat Fifth Third Bancorp's score of 0.31 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	20 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fifth Third Bancorp	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is NTRS or FITB a better dividend stock?

Northern Trust pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Fifth Third Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Northern Trust pays out 28.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fifth Third Bancorp pays out 47.0% 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.

Summary

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