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

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.75 per share by the asset manager on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Northern Trust has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.3% per year over the last three years. Northern Trust has a payout ratio of 34.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Northern Trust to earn $9.03 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 33.2%.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTRS opened at $97.49 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Northern Trust has a twelve month low of $79.30 and a twelve month high of $114.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $108.08 and a 200-day moving average of $102.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. Northern Trust had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northern Trust will post 8.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of Northern Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.36, for a total value of $2,936,191.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 26,586 shares in the company, valued at $2,987,202.96. This trade represents a 49.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $429,852.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,242,722. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTRS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Northern Trust from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.50.

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.