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

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the asset manager on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

Northern Trust has increased its dividend by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years. Northern Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 36.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Northern Trust to earn $7.83 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 38.3%.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRS traded up $1.46 during trading on Thursday, hitting $108.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,790,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,173,960. Northern Trust has a 12-month low of $76.67 and a 12-month high of $111.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.30.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 10.92%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Northern Trust will post 7.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, EVP Thomas A. South sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.80, for a total transaction of $529,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 49,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,184.80. The trade was a 9.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total value of $1,698,972.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,397 shares in the company, valued at $462,476.46. This trade represents a 78.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,151 shares of company stock valued at $8,489,889 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NTRS. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Northern Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $84.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.17.

Northern Trust Company Profile

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.