Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The asset manager reported $3.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.53, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 15.86% and a return on equity of 17.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Northern Trust’s conference call:

• Strong third-quarter performance: Excluding notable items, revenue rose 11% year over year, supported by 8% trust-fee growth, 14% net interest income growth and 38% capital-markets growth. Pre-tax income increased 21% and EPS rose 40%, with more than 600 basis points of positive operating leverage.
• Management raised its near-term outlook, expecting fourth-quarter net interest income to grow 8%–9% year over year and total revenue to grow 6%–7%, assuming stable markets and interest rates. The company expects at least 500 basis points of operating leverage for full-year 2026.
• Wealth management and asset servicing continued to show momentum, including 16% Global Family Office fee growth, strong wealth-management flows and a UBS fund-administration expansion that could increase serviced UBS assets by more than 50%. Asset servicing delivered a 30% pre-tax margin, while asset management recorded its sixth consecutive quarter of positive ETF flows.
• Northern Trust returned $514 million to shareholders in the quarter and authorized an additional $3.5 billion for repurchases, while maintaining a 12.4% CET1 ratio. However, management cautioned that FX revenue remains above normalized levels, deposits declined seasonally in the third quarter, and the effective tax rate is expected to rise to about 25% from 19.3%.

Northern Trust Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS opened at $165.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.23, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $177.64 and its 200 day moving average is $173.84. Northern Trust has a 52 week low of $121.53 and a 52 week high of $195.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.61.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on NTRS. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Northern Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $178.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Northern Trust from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Northern Trust from $173.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Capital One Financial set a $190.00 price objective on Northern Trust in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Northern Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $184.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas South sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.90, for a total value of $332,820.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 92,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,180,353.30. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert Moritz, Jr. bought 255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $179.57 per share, with a total value of $45,790.35. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 8,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,388. The trade was a 3.13% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

About Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) is a financial services company that provides wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services. The company serves institutional investors, corporations, financial institutions, high-net-worth individuals and families.

Its offerings include custody and administration of investment assets, fund accounting, securities lending, foreign exchange, treasury services, investment management, trust and estate services, private banking and wealth planning.