CIBC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA) Stock

National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA) had its target price raised by CIBC from C$125.00 to C$127.00 in a report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on NA. Desjardins dropped their price target on shares of National Bank of Canada from C$140.00 to C$136.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of National Bank of Canada from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from C$147.00 to C$126.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of National Bank of Canada from C$145.00 to C$140.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. 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, Scotiabank raised shares of National Bank of Canada to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$134.30.

National Bank of Canada Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of TSE NA opened at C$133.50 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$122.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$126.05. The stock has a market capitalization of C$52.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 1.12. National Bank of Canada has a 52 week low of C$105.43 and a 52 week high of C$141.15.

National Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $1.18 per share. This represents a $4.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. This is an increase from National Bank of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.14. National Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lynn Loewen bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$117.93 per share, with a total value of C$117,930.00. Also, Senior Officer Lucie Blanchet purchased 2,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$116.28 per share, for a total transaction of C$249,653.16. Insiders have bought 3,509 shares of company stock worth $413,894 over the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.