Northern Trust (NTRS) Competitors

Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, media sentiment, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Is NTRS or FITB more profitable?

Fifth Third Bancorp has a net margin of 17.97% compared to Northern Trust's net margin of 11.75%. Northern Trust's return on equity of 14.06% beat Fifth Third Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northern Trust	11.75%	14.06%	1.04%
Fifth Third Bancorp	17.97%	13.31%	1.15%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in NTRS or FITB?

83.2% of Northern Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.8% of Fifth Third Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Northern Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Fifth Third Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, NTRS or FITB?

Fifth Third Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Northern Trust. Fifth Third Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northern Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Northern Trust	$16.06B	1.51	$2.03B	$8.51	14.93
Fifth Third Bancorp	$13.28B	2.06	$2.31B	$3.22	12.70

Which has more risk & volatility, NTRS or FITB?

Northern Trust has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fifth Third Bancorp has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is NTRS or FITB a better dividend stock?

Northern Trust pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Fifth Third Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Northern Trust pays out 35.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fifth Third Bancorp pays out 46.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Fifth Third Bancorp has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Fifth Third Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend NTRS or FITB?

Northern Trust currently has a consensus price target of $116.58, indicating a potential downside of 8.25%. Fifth Third Bancorp has a consensus price target of $47.80, indicating a potential upside of 16.84%. Given Fifth Third Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fifth Third Bancorp is more favorable than Northern Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northern Trust	3 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.92
Fifth Third Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82

Does the media prefer NTRS or FITB?

In the previous week, Northern Trust had 21 more articles in the media than Fifth Third Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Northern Trust and 15 mentions for Fifth Third Bancorp. Fifth Third Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat Northern Trust's score of 1.27 indicating that Fifth Third Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northern Trust	29 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fifth Third Bancorp	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Fifth Third Bancorp beats Northern Trust on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.