Bank of America Boosts Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Price Target to $101.00

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) had its target price upped by Bank of America from $93.00 to $101.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on NTRS. TheStreet upgraded shares of Northern Trust from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an underweight rating and issued a $86.00 price objective (up from $82.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Northern Trust from a peer perform rating to an underperform rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $72.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $84.92.

Northern Trust Price Performance

Shares of Northern Trust stock opened at $81.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Northern Trust has a 1-year low of $62.44 and a 1-year high of $89.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by ($0.81). Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.57% and a net margin of 7.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. Northern Trust’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other news, insider Steven L. Fradkin sold 30,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total value of $2,434,703.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 55,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,462,687.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northern Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTRS. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,921 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Northern Trust by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 12,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new position in Northern Trust during the 1st quarter worth about $548,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Northern Trust by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,711,584 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,644,763,000 after buying an additional 457,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in Northern Trust by 271.7% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

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.