National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) saw a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,953,400 shares, a drop of 29.0% from the January 15th total of 12,614,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 80,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 111.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Cormark raised shares of National Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised National Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th.

National Bank of Canada Price Performance

Shares of National Bank of Canada stock traded up $0.14 on Friday, hitting $89.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 73,418. The company has a market capitalization of $34.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 1.07. National Bank of Canada has a 52-week low of $76.15 and a 52-week high of $100.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $91.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that National Bank of Canada will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.8104 dividend. This is an increase from National Bank of Canada’s previous dividend of $0.81. This represents a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. National Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.02%.

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.