National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,911,900 shares, an increase of 130.2% from the February 28th total of 6,478,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 67,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 221.2 days. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on NTIOF. Cormark lowered National Bank of Canada from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. CIBC reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of National Bank of Canada in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th.

National Bank of Canada Price Performance

National Bank of Canada stock traded down $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $83.30. 119,679 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 85,560. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $85.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.41. The stock has a market cap of $32.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 1.09. National Bank of Canada has a one year low of $76.77 and a one year high of $100.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

National Bank of Canada Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.7975 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 3.86%. National Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.92%.

National Bank of Canada Company Profile

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.