Camden National Co. (NASDAQ:CAC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Camden National Co. (NASDAQ:CAC - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 521,900 shares, an increase of 22.8% from the March 15th total of 424,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 89,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.9 days. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Camden National by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 283,911 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,731,000 after acquiring an additional 99,097 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Camden National by 38.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,339 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 13,542 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Camden National by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 344,448 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $14,236,000 after purchasing an additional 4,067 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Camden National by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,952 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Camden National by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 23,204 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. 77.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Camden National from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Camden National in a research report on Friday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $53.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Camden National in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Camden National Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Camden National stock traded down $0.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 66,384. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.38 and a 200-day moving average of $42.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $653.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.61. Camden National has a twelve month low of $30.11 and a twelve month high of $50.07.

Camden National (NASDAQ:CAC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.14. Camden National had a net margin of 18.02% and a return on equity of 10.38%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Camden National will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Camden National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Camden National's payout ratio is 46.41%.

About Camden National

Camden National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Camden National Bank that provides various commercial and consumer banking products and services for consumer, institutional, municipal, non-profit, and commercial customers in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. The company accepts checking, savings, time, and brokered deposits, as well as deposits with the certificate of deposit account registry system.