National Bank Holdings Co. (NYSE:NBHC) Short Interest Down 17.3% in February

National Bank Holdings Co. (NYSE:NBHC) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of 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. Based on an average daily volume of 199,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On National Bank

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NBHC. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in National Bank by 503.1% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of National Bank by 815.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of National Bank in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of National Bank by 82.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of National Bank in the 4th quarter valued at $174,000. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

National Bank Stock Performance

NYSE:NBHC traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.73. The stock had a trading volume of 193,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 196,910. National Bank has a 52 week low of $32.13 and a 52 week high of $51.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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

National Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. National Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NBHC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on National Bank from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group cut National Bank from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded National Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, National Bank presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.40.

About National Bank

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.