National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$125.56 and last traded at C$128.40, with a volume of 928758 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$127.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group set a C$123.00 target price on National Bank of Canada and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of National Bank of Canada from C$119.00 to C$126.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of National Bank of Canada from C$113.00 to C$116.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of National Bank of Canada from C$120.00 to C$129.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, CIBC downgraded shares of National Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$122.64.

National Bank of Canada Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of C$43.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 17.04 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is C$121.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$115.56.

National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The financial services provider reported C$2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$2.50 by C$0.18. The company had revenue of C$2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$2.95 billion. National Bank of Canada had a net margin of 34.50% and a return on equity of 15.18%. Sell-side analysts expect that National Bank of Canada will post 10.8064243 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Bank of Canada Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. National Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.84%.

Insider Activity

In other National Bank of Canada news, Director Yvon Charest acquired 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$117.24 per share, with a total value of C$38,103.00. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.