KBC Group SA (OTCMKTS:KBCSY) Short Interest Up 180.6% in August

KBC Group SA (OTCMKTS:KBCSY) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 9,724 shares, a growth of 180.6% from the July 30th total of 3,466 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 23,466 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on KBCSY shares. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of KBC Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of KBC Group in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

KBC Group Stock Performance

OTCMKTS KBCSY opened at $76.46 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.61. KBC Group has a one year low of $56.86 and a one year high of $78.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.59.

KBC Group (OTCMKTS:KBCSY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. KBC Group had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 13.48%. Equities analysts forecast that KBC Group will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current year.

KBC Group Company Profile

KBC Group is a Belgian bank-insurance group headquartered in Brussels that combines retail and commercial banking with life and non-life insurance, asset management, leasing and related financial services. The company operates an integrated bank-insurance model designed to serve both individual consumers and corporate clients, offering deposit accounts, lending and mortgage products, payment and treasury services, pension and protection insurance, investment solutions and wealth management.

The group’s banking activities include retail and private banking, corporate and commercial banking, and specialized finance such as leasing and factoring.