National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) Short Interest Down 29.0% in January

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

National Bank of Canada Stock Performance

NTIOF stock traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $89.35. The company had a trading volume of 20,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 73,418. National Bank of Canada has a 12 month low of $76.15 and a 12 month 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $91.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.14. The firm has a market cap of $34.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 1.07.

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, analysts forecast that National Bank of Canada will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Saturday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.8104 dividend. This is a boost from National Bank of Canada’s previous dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.53%. National Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio is 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.