Insider Buying: National Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKSH) Director Purchases 1,000 Shares of Stock

National Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKSH) Director Lawrence J. Ball acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.50 per share, for a total transaction of $27,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 21,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $602,415. The trade was a 4.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

National Bankshares Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ NKSH opened at $28.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.87 million, a PE ratio of 23.05 and a beta of 0.60. National Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.00 and a 1 year high of $35.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.60 and its 200-day moving average is $29.56.

National Bankshares (NASDAQ:NKSH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.48. National Bankshares had a net margin of 9.64% and a return on equity of 5.00%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that National Bankshares, Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NKSH shares. StockNews.com raised shares of National Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 1st. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of National Bankshares from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of National Bankshares by 131.0% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,155 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of National Bankshares by 71.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,757 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of National Bankshares by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of National Bankshares by 290.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,487 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 5,569 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of National Bankshares by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 7,635 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 29.73% of the company’s stock.

About National Bankshares

National Bankshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for the National Bank of Blacksburg that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, businesses, non-profits, and local governments. The company accepts interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing demand deposit accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, health savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts.