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

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,741,300 shares, an increase of 31.0% from the April 30th total of 7,437,200 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 66,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 146.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on NTIOF shares. National Bankshares cut National Bank of Canada from a "speculative buy" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. CIBC reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of National Bank of Canada in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of National Bank of Canada to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Cibc World Mkts cut shares of National Bank of Canada from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Cormark downgraded National Bank of Canada from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, National Bank of Canada has a consensus rating of "Hold".

National Bank of Canada Stock Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS NTIOF traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $97.87. 4,131 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 80,726. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.29 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 1.01. National Bank of Canada has a 52-week low of $74.21 and a 52-week high of $100.08.

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.29. National Bank of Canada had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 17.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that National Bank of Canada will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

National Bank of Canada Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a $0.7975 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. National Bank of Canada's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.37%.

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.