Capital One Financial Co. (NYSE:COF) Short Interest Down 5.4% in March

Capital One Financial Co. (NYSE:COF) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,300,000 shares, a decline of 5.4% from the March 15th total of 11,940,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days. Currently, 3.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Capital One Financial by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,666,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,021,016,000 after purchasing an additional 131,400 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Capital One Financial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,991,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,965,761,000 after acquiring an additional 311,696 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Capital One Financial by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,227,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,603,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,745,545 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Capital One Financial by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,751,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,016,317,000 after acquiring an additional 124,055 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Capital One Financial by 1.2% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,838,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $656,327,000 after acquiring an additional 78,994 shares during the period. 89.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on COF shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Capital One Financial from $124.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Capital One Financial from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Capital One Financial from $152.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Capital One Financial from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Capital One Financial from $134.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.05.

Capital One Financial Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:COF opened at $136.36 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $139.00 and its 200 day moving average is $123.52. Capital One Financial has a 1 year low of $83.93 and a 1 year high of $149.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.26). Capital One Financial had a net margin of 9.88% and a return on equity of 9.24%. The business had revenue of $9.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.45 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Capital One Financial will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Capital One Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Capital One Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.08%.

About Capital One Financial

Capital One Financial Corporation operates as the financial services holding company for the Capital One, National Association, which engages in the provision of various financial products and services in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Credit Card, Consumer Banking, and Commercial Banking.