National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) Short Interest Up 26.5% in February

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,478,600 shares, an increase of 26.5% from the February 13th total of 5,122,700 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 87,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 74.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTIOF has been the subject of a number of research reports. CIBC reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of National Bank of Canada in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Cibc World Mkts lowered National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Cormark downgraded National Bank of Canada from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

National Bank of Canada Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of OTCMKTS:NTIOF traded up $1.13 during trading on Monday, reaching $82.65. The stock had a trading volume of 12,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 87,643. National Bank of Canada has a 52 week low of $76.77 and a 52 week high of $100.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $87.56 and its 200 day moving average is $92.02. The stock has a market cap of $32.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

National Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Saturday, February 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.8104 dividend. This is an increase from National Bank of Canada’s previous dividend of $0.81. This represents a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. National Bank of Canada’s payout ratio is presently 39.92%.

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.