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

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,478,600 shares, an increase of 26.5% from the February 13th total of 5,122,700 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 87,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 74.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NTIOF shares. CIBC reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of National Bank of Canada in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Cormark downgraded National Bank of Canada from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays downgraded National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th.

National Bank of Canada Stock Performance

NTIOF stock traded up $1.13 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $82.65. The company had a trading volume of 12,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 87,643. 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 firm has a market cap of $32.34 billion, a PE ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.09. National Bank of Canada has a 12 month low of $76.77 and a 12 month high of $100.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $87.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.02.

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 represents a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This is a boost from National Bank of Canada’s previous dividend of $0.81. National Bank of Canada’s payout ratio is 39.92%.

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.