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

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Northern Trust has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years. Northern Trust has a payout ratio of 36.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS opened at $109.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 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. Northern Trust has a 52 week low of $76.67 and a 52 week high of $111.87.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Steven L. Fradkin sold 9,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total transaction of $1,010,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 47,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,305,467. The trade was a 15.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.18, for a total value of $1,698,972.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,476.46. This trade represents a 78.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,253 shares of company stock worth $3,238,073 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NTRS. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price 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. UBS Group increased their price target on Northern Trust from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Northern Trust currently has an average 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.