National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) saw a large decrease in short interest during 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 short-interest ratio is presently 111.2 days.

National Bank of Canada Stock Performance

Shares of National Bank of Canada stock traded up $0.14 on Friday, reaching $89.35. 20,379 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 73,418. National Bank of Canada has a 52 week low of $76.15 and a 52 week high of $100.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $91.07 and a 200 day moving average of $92.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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 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%. Equities analysts forecast that National Bank of Canada will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

National Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Saturday, February 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.8104 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This is an increase from National Bank of Canada’s previous dividend of $0.81. This represents a yield of 3.53%. National Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTIOF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lowered shares of National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Cormark upgraded 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 upgraded shares of National Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th.

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.