Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS) — Fundamental Analysis & Key Financial Ratios

Kaplio's reading: Northern Trust Corporation

Updated on October 22, 2026 · accounts published on October 21, 2026

A profitable, lightly leveraged firm whose margins have slipped below their own history

Northern Trust trades at 14.3× earnings, 9 % below its ten-year median, while revenue fell 10 % over the last 12 months.

• Is Northern Trust expensive or cheap? At 14.3× earnings, Northern Trust trades 3 % above its sector median of 12.9× and 9 % below its ten-year median.
• How is the business doing? Revenue fell 10 % over the last 12 months, and the 18 % operating margin trails its 25 % average for fiscal 2014-2025.
• How strong is the balance sheet? Debt is 0.16 times equity over the last 12 months, and the 2.0 % dividend used just 36 % of fiscal 2025 earnings.
• What to expect from the next earnings? Analysts expect EPS of $2.98 for the quarter reported on January 28, 2027, after eight beats in a row.
• Is it a scalable, lightly leveraged business? Northern Trust passes five of six sector tests; the miss is a 16 % operating margin in fiscal 2025 against a 30 % bar.

Is Northern Trust expensive or cheap?

Northern Trust trades at a P/E of 13.3× over the last 12 months. That is 9 % below its ten-year median of 14.5× and close to its five-year average of 14.7×. Over the past decade the multiple has ranged from 8.5× to 24.4×. The stock has traded at a lower P/E than today 37 % of the time, which puts the current level in the middle of its own history. Against 473 financial-services peers it carries an 3 % premium to their 13.3× median. Price to book is 2.3×. The shares are up 35 % over the last 12 months and still sit 12 % below their 52-week high of $191.47.

How is the business doing?

Over the last 12 months revenue fell 10 % and EPS fell 11 %, a clear step back. Profitability has slipped too. The operating margin is 18 % over the last 12 months and was 16 % in fiscal 2025, well below the 25 % average for fiscal years 2014-2025. Returns are still solid: a net margin of 18 % and an ROE of 19 % over the last 12 months show a business that earns good money on its capital. The longer view is stronger, with revenue per share growing 20 % a year between fiscal 2020 and 2025. The open question is whether margins can recover toward their historical level.

How strong is the balance sheet?

Over the last 12 months Northern Trust's debt equals 0.16 times its equity, far below the 0.5 level considered prudent for financial-services firms. The dividend looks easy to sustain. It yields 1.9 % over the last 12 months, and the payout took 36 % of fiscal 2025 earnings, so most of the profit stays in the business. Free cash flow reached 314 % of net income in fiscal 2025, more than three times the 90 % healthy threshold. A single year this far above earnings is better treated as a sign of strong cash conversion than as a figure to count on every year.

What to expect from the next earnings?

Northern Trust has beaten EPS estimates in each of the last 8 quarters. The latest report, on October 21, 2026, showed EPS of $3.20 against $2.87 expected, a 12 % beat. For the next report, due January 28, 2027, analysts expect $2.98. The 2026 EPS consensus has barely moved in the last 24 days: it went from $11.48 to $11.53 across 8 analysts, and the revenue estimates are just as stable. Of the 35 analysts covering the company, 12 recommend buying, 18 holding and 5 selling. That is a cautious stance next to such a steady record of beats.

Is it a scalable, lightly leveraged business?

Asset managers, brokers and other financial-services firms are not judged like banks. What matters is revenue growth, fee-driven margins and the quality of their cash. On those tests, Northern Trust grew revenue per share 20 % a year over fiscal 2020-2025, well above the healthy mark of 6 %. Its ROE of 19 % over the last 12 months beats the 15 % bar, and debt of 0.16 times equity stays under the prudent limit of 0.5. The weak point is efficiency at scale. A 16 % operating margin in fiscal 2025 falls far short of the 30 % the sector considers healthy, and below the company's own 25 % average since 2014.

How this was prepared: the data comes from companies' official filings, collected by a professional provider, and from Kaplio's analysis engine (trailing-12-month ratios, 10 years of history and sector medians computed across US-listed companies). The text is written from that data alone, every figure is checked against it before publication, and it is reviewed when the company reports results. This is not investment advice.