Camden National Co. (NASDAQ:CAC) Short Interest Up 31.5% in September

Camden National Co. (NASDAQ:CAC) saw a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 460,100 shares, a growth of 31.5% from the August 31st total of 349,900 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 65,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Camden National

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAC. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Camden National during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,943,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Camden National in the second quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Creative Planning grew its holdings in Camden National by 65.4% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 8,274 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in Camden National in the second quarter worth $349,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Camden National by 1.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 282,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,313,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CAC. StockNews.com began coverage on Camden National in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Camden National from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Camden National from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Camden National Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAC traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $40.08. 61,037 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 49,605. The stock has a market cap of $585.45 million, a P/E ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.72. Camden National has a 1 year low of $26.52 and a 1 year high of $43.44. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Camden National (NASDAQ:CAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.10. Camden National had a return on equity of 10.36% and a net margin of 16.01%. The company had revenue of $72.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.07 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Camden National will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Camden National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. Camden National’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.81%.

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.