Camden National Co. (NASDAQ:CAC) Short Interest Up 22.8% in March

Camden National Co. (NASDAQ:CAC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 521,900 shares, an increase of 22.8% from the March 15th total of 424,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 89,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.9 days. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Camden National from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Camden National in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $53.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Camden National in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th.

Camden National Price Performance

NASDAQ CAC traded down $0.32 on Monday, hitting $37.42. The stock had a trading volume of 32,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 65,865. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.87 and a 200-day moving average of $43.05. The company has a market capitalization of $631.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.34 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Camden National has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $50.07.

Camden National (NASDAQ:CAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.14. Camden National had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 18.02%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Camden National will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Camden National Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. Camden National’s payout ratio is presently 46.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Camden National

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Camden National in the fourth quarter worth $6,811,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Camden National by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 283,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,731,000 after purchasing an additional 99,097 shares in the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. bought a new position in shares of Camden National during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,059,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Camden National by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,311,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,055,000 after buying an additional 90,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Camden National in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,727,000. Institutional investors own 77.41% of the company’s stock.

Camden National Company Profile

Camden National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Camden National Bank that provides various commercial and consumer banking products and services for consumer, institutional, municipal, non-profit, and commercial customers in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. The company accepts checking, savings, time, and brokered deposits, as well as deposits with the certificate of deposit account registry system.