Northern Trust Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.75 (NASDAQ:NTRS)

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 16th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the asset manager on Monday, July 1st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th.

Northern Trust has raised its dividend by an average of 2.3% per year over the last three years. Northern Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 43.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Northern Trust to earn $6.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.1%.

Northern Trust Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NTRS opened at $81.23 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.82. Northern Trust has a one year low of $62.44 and a one year high of $89.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.93, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.13.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.81). The business had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.57% and a net margin of 7.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Northern Trust will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northern Trust

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Northern Trust by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,921 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of Northern Trust by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 12,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 2,716 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $548,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 457,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 271.7% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. 83.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTRS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their target price on Northern Trust from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. TheStreet raised Northern Trust from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up from $82.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.58.

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.