Short Interest in National Bank Holdings Co. (NYSE:NBHC) Declines By 17.3%

National Bank Holdings Co. (NYSE:NBHC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 571,100 shares, a decrease of 17.3% from the February 13th total of 690,900 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 199,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NBHC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on National Bank from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut National Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, National Bank currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On National Bank

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NBHC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of National Bank during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,790,000. Systematic Financial Management LP purchased a new position in shares of National Bank during the third quarter valued at approximately $756,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of National Bank by 7.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,799,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,747,000 after buying an additional 126,796 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of National Bank by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 861,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,276,000 after buying an additional 9,723 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of National Bank by 91.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 103,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,340,000 after buying an additional 49,359 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

National Bank Price Performance

NYSE:NBHC traded up $0.17 on Wednesday, reaching $39.89. 217,051 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 197,575. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.57. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 0.86. National Bank has a 12 month low of $32.13 and a 12 month high of $51.76.

National Bank (NYSE:NBHC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.07. National Bank had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 19.82%. Equities research analysts forecast that National Bank will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

National Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. National Bank’s payout ratio is currently 37.54%.

National Bank Company Profile

National Bank Holdings Corporation operates as the bank holding company for NBH Bank that provides various banking products and financial services to commercial, business, and consumer clients in the United States. It offers deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts, including fixed-rate and fixed maturity time deposits.