National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) Short Interest Up 130.2% in March

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,911,900 shares, a growth of 130.2% from the February 28th total of 6,478,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 67,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 221.2 days. Currently, 3.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

National Bank of Canada Price Performance

OTCMKTS:NTIOF opened at $83.30 on Friday. National Bank of Canada has a 12-month low of $76.77 and a 12-month high of $100.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $85.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

National Bank of Canada Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.7975 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. National Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on NTIOF shares. Cormark lowered National Bank of Canada from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of National Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, CIBC reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of National Bank of Canada in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

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.