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

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,760,000 shares, an increase of 21.1% from the January 31st total of 2,280,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In related news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.36, for a total transaction of $2,936,191.52. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,586 shares in the company, valued at $2,987,202.96. This trade represents a 49.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason J. Tyler sold 2,237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.67, for a total transaction of $252,042.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,585,448.83. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northern Trust

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in Northern Trust by 9.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,187,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,637,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,685 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Northern Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $83,550,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 201.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 963,811 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,791,000 after purchasing an additional 644,261 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Northern Trust by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,497,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $153,493,000 after purchasing an additional 562,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northern Trust by 451.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 555,631 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,866,000 after buying an additional 454,956 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on NTRS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Northern Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Northern Trust from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

Northern Trust Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NTRS opened at $102.98 on Friday. Northern Trust has a fifty-two week low of $79.30 and a fifty-two week high of $114.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $108.19 and a 200 day moving average of $101.57. The firm has a market cap of $20.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 12.77%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Northern Trust will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is presently 30.67%.

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.