Northern Trust Price Target Raised by Royal Bank of Canada

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) received a significant boost when the Royal Bank of Canada announced an increase in their target price for the company's shares from $107.00 to $115.00. This adjustment was made public in a research report released on Friday, where the brokerage also assigned an "outperform" rating to Northern Trust's stock. The new price target suggests a potential upside of approximately 3.56% based on the current market price of the shares.

Northern Trust has been referenced in several other analyst reports recently. For instance, Barclays raised their target price from $115.00 to $118.00 while maintaining an "equal weight" rating. Similarly, UBS Group increased their price target from $86.00 to $92.00 and labeled the stock as "neutral." On the other hand, StockNews.com has downgraded the stock from a "buy" to a "hold" rating.

Additionally, Morgan Stanley adjusted their price target downwards from $127.00 to $125.00, still keeping an "equal weight" rating in place. Evercore ISI also contributed to the positive outlook by raising the price target from $86.00 to $103.00 with an "in-line" rating.

The consensus from analysts shows that one analyst assigned a sell rating, nine hold ratings, and three buy ratings for Northern Trust. Based on data compiled from MarketBeat.com, the average rating for the stock is "Hold" with an average target price set at $110.75.

Northern Trust Stock Performance

On the trading floor, Northern Trust's shares saw an increase of 1.4% on Friday, trading at $111.05. The trading volume reached about 632,603 shares, which is lower than its average trading volume of 1,184,931. The company's financial ratios include a quick ratio and current ratio, both at 0.71, indicating its liquidity. Meanwhile, the debt-to-equity ratio stands at 0.58. Northern Trust has a market capitalization of approximately $22.01 billion, a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 13.81, and a price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio of 1.22, with a beta of 1.08. Over the past year, the stock has seen a low of $76.67 and a high of $111.87.

Financial Results

Northern Trust released its latest earnings report on January 23rd, where they reported earnings of $2.26 per share (EPS), surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.30. The company recorded a net margin of 10.92% along with a return on equity of 12.75%. Analysts predict that Northern Trust will post an EPS of 7.56 for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions

In recent insider activity, COO Peter Cherecwich sold 16,153 shares on November 7th at an average price of $105.18, totaling approximately $1,698,973. Following this sale, he retains 4,397 shares, valued at about $462,476. EVP Thomas A. South also sold 5,000 shares around the same time, earning approximately $529,000. Over the past ninety days, insiders have sold a total of 30,253 shares of Northern Trust stock, valued at around $3,238,073. Currently, company insiders hold 0.64% of the stock.

Institutional Investor Activity

Numerous hedge funds have adjusted their holdings in Northern Trust recently. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their stake by 9.9% during the third quarter, owning 4,296,442 shares valued at $386.81 million after purchasing an additional 388,692 shares. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC considerably raised their holdings by 68.1% during the same period. Other firms, like Agate Pass Investment Management LLC, Martingale Asset Management LP, and Verition Fund Management LLC also made substantial changes to their positions. Overall, institutional investors now hold about 83.19% of Northern Trust's stock.

About Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation is a financial holding company that provides a wide range of services including wealth management, asset servicing, asset management, and banking solutions for both institutions and individuals globally. It operates in two main segments: Asset Servicing and Wealth Management.

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