Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Downgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to “Sell”

The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $82.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $84.00.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $89.42.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NTRS opened at $89.93 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.47. Northern Trust has a 12 month low of $62.44 and a 12 month high of $92.82.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The asset manager reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. Northern Trust had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 53.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Northern Trust will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Northern Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northern Trust

In other Northern Trust news, EVP Mark C. Gossett sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total value of $533,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,552,052.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Teresa Parker sold 5,883 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.06, for a total transaction of $494,524.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 83,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,041,285.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark C. Gossett sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $533,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,552,052.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,738 shares of company stock worth $1,191,388. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTRS. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Northern Trust by 140.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,802,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $489,640,000 after acquiring an additional 3,387,002 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Northern Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $105,665,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,413,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $622,596,000 after buying an additional 850,556 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 4,660.5% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 399,932 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,586,000 after buying an additional 391,531 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Northern Trust by 1,677.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 362,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,618,000 after buying an additional 342,452 shares during the period. 83.19% of the stock is owned by 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.