Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) saw a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, a drop of 16.9% from the March 15th total of 2,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Northern Trust Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $83.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.00 and a 200 day moving average of $78.56. The company has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Northern Trust has a 12-month low of $62.44 and a 12-month high of $90.30.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by ($0.81). The company had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 12.44%. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 6.57 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective (up from $82.00) on shares of Northern Trust in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research downgraded Northern Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. TheStreet upgraded Northern Trust from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Northern Trust from $72.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Northern Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Two equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Steven L. Fradkin sold 30,392 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total value of $2,434,703.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,462,687.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRS. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 140.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,802,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $489,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,387,002 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,533,855 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $551,327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553,783 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Northern Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $134,901,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Northern Trust by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,080,885 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $513,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Northern Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $105,665,000. 83.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.