National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• National Bank of Canada has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from eleven brokerages, with one sell, eight hold, one buy, and one strong buy rating among analysts.
• The company recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.18 per share, up from the previous $1.14, representing an annualized yield of 3.2%.
• Director Yvon Charest purchased 362 shares at an average price of C$127.93, indicating insider confidence in the company's prospects.

Shares of National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$135.36.

NA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised National Bank of Canada to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Cibc World Mkts raised National Bank of Canada from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on National Bank of Canada from C$136.00 to C$138.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. CIBC increased their price objective on National Bank of Canada from C$125.00 to C$127.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut National Bank of Canada from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from C$147.00 to C$126.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st.

Insider Activity at National Bank of Canada

In related news, Director Yvon Charest bought 362 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$127.93 per share, for a total transaction of C$46,310.66. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

National Bank of Canada Trading Up 0.2%

NA opened at C$146.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$140.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$128.23. The company has a market cap of C$57.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 1.12. National Bank of Canada has a 12-month low of C$106.67 and a 12-month high of C$147.34.

National Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a $1.18 dividend. This is a positive change from National Bank of Canada's previous quarterly dividend of $1.14. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $4.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. National Bank of Canada's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.03%.

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.

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