Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $187.55 and last traded at $187.77, with a volume of 24357 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $184.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $170.00 to $179.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Evercore set a $179.00 price target on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $151.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.75.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $171.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.83. The company has a market cap of $35.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.25.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The asset manager reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Northern Trust Corporation will post 11.29 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is presently 33.51%.

Insider Activity at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, insider Clive Bellows sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO David W. Fox, Jr. sold 19,987 shares of Northern Trust 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 completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,800 shares of company stock worth $3,785,251. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTRS. State Street Corp lifted its position in Northern Trust by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,493,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,285,236,000 after purchasing an additional 97,584 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,747,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $511,917,000 after buying an additional 301,164 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,894,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $395,395,000 after buying an additional 161,826 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Northern Trust by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,455,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,744,000 after buying an additional 36,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,036,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $284,184,000 after acquiring an additional 83,117 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.