Swedbank AB (OTCMKTS:SWDBY) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Swedbank AB (OTCMKTS:SWDBY) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 39,588 shares, an increase of 104.5% from the February 26th total of 19,358 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 66,979 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days. Currently, 0.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Swedbank Price Performance

Shares of SWDBY stock opened at SEK 32.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Swedbank has a one year low of SEK 19.16 and a one year high of SEK 40.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is SEK 37.84 and its 200-day moving average price is SEK 33.89. The company has a market capitalization of $36.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.69.

Swedbank (OTCMKTS:SWDBY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported SEK 0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of SEK 0.67 by SEK 0.10. The company had revenue of SEK 1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of SEK 1.79 billion. Swedbank had a net margin of 30.27% and a return on equity of 15.50%. Sell-side analysts expect that Swedbank will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on SWDBY. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Swedbank in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Zacks Research raised Swedbank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Swedbank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Swedbank in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Swedbank in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Swedbank currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

About Swedbank

Swedbank AB is a major Swedish banking group headquartered in Stockholm that provides a broad range of financial services to retail, corporate and institutional clients. The bank’s operations focus on traditional banking functions such as deposit-taking, lending and payment services, as well as wealth management and insurance solutions. Swedbank’s franchise is centered on serving households, small and medium-sized enterprises and larger corporate customers, with an emphasis on everyday banking and long-term client relationships.

Products and services offered by Swedbank include savings and current accounts, mortgages and consumer lending, business loans and transaction banking, payment and card services, and digital banking platforms.