Short Interest in KBC Group SA (OTCMKTS:KBCSY) Declines By 89.1%

Key Points

• Short interest in KBC Group fell by 89.1% in March to 5,386 shares, representing about 0.0% of shares sold short and a days-to-cover ratio of 0.0.
• Analysts give KBCSY an average rating of "Hold" (1 Buy, 4 Hold, 1 Sell), with recent notes from Citigroup and Deutsche Bank reiterating neutral/hold and Zacks downgrading from strong-buy to hold.
• Shares recently traded at $67.35 with a market cap of $56.26 billion and a P/E of 13.58; KBC beat quarterly EPS ($1.42 vs. $1.40) and revenue estimates, and analysts forecast about 4.28 EPS for the year.

KBC Group SA (OTCMKTS:KBCSY - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,386 shares, a decline of 89.1% from the March 15th total of 49,229 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 147,987 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KBCSY. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of KBC Group in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating on shares of KBC Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of KBC Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KBC Group currently has an average rating of "Hold".

KBC Group Price Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS:KBCSY traded up $0.64 during trading on Friday, hitting $67.35. 12,515 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 58,809. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.59. KBC Group has a 12-month low of $43.05 and a 12-month high of $73.12. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $65.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.70.

KBC Group (OTCMKTS:KBCSY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.02. KBC Group had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 13.89%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that KBC Group will post 4.28 EPS for the current year.

KBC Group Company Profile

KBC Group is a Belgian bank-insurance group headquartered in Brussels that combines retail and commercial banking with life and non-life insurance, asset management, leasing and related financial services. The company operates an integrated bank-insurance model designed to serve both individual consumers and corporate clients, offering deposit accounts, lending and mortgage products, payment and treasury services, pension and protection insurance, investment solutions and wealth management.

The group's banking activities include retail and private banking, corporate and commercial banking, and specialized finance such as leasing and factoring.

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