Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) Short Interest Up 19.6% in February

Northern Trust Co. (NASDAQ:NTRS) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,300,000 shares, an increase of 19.6% from the February 13th total of 2,760,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Northern Trust Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTRS traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $99.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,201,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,171,000. 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 has a 1 year low of $79.32 and a 1 year high of $114.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $107.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.37. The firm has a market cap of $19.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) last announced 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 12.77% and a return on equity of 13.74%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Northern Trust will post 8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northern Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Northern Trust’s payout ratio is 30.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 26,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,987,202.96. This represents a 49.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas A. South sold 3,804 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,242,722. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,335 shares of company stock valued at $3,970,211. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northern Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Northern Trust by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 355,732 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $36,463,000 after purchasing an additional 5,022 shares in the last quarter. 111 Capital purchased a new position in Northern Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $503,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Northern Trust by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 3,993 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Northern Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,152,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Northern Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,784,000. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTRS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $107.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Northern Trust from $113.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Northern Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group increased their target price 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, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Northern Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northern Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.50.

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.