Short Interest in National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) Drops By 42.8%

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,122,700 shares, a decline of 42.8% from the January 31st total of 8,953,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 167,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 30.6 days.

National Bank of Canada Stock Performance

OTCMKTS NTIOF traded down $1.46 on Tuesday, reaching $81.71. The stock had a trading volume of 45,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 95,217. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $31.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.47. National Bank of Canada has a 1-year low of $76.77 and a 1-year high of $100.08.

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.05. National Bank of Canada had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 17.21%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that National Bank of Canada will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

National Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Saturday, February 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.8104 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a yield of 3.53%. This is an increase from National Bank of Canada’s previous dividend of $0.81. National Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays cut shares of National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Cormark cut National Bank of Canada from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st.

About National Bank of Canada

National Bank of Canada provides financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional clients, and governments in Canada and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and U.S. Specialty Finance and International. The Personal and Commercial segment offers personal banking services, including transaction solutions, mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, consumer loans, payment solutions, and savings and investment solutions; various insurance products; and commercial banking services, such as credit, and deposit, investment solutions, international trade, foreign exchange transactions, payroll, cash management, insurance, electronic transactions, and complimentary services.