Brandes Investment Partners LP Buys 12,407 Shares of National Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKSH)

Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in National Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKSH) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,584 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,407 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned about 2.67% of National Bankshares worth $4,869,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NKSH. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in National Bankshares by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 4,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in National Bankshares by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,268 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $486,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in National Bankshares by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,406 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in National Bankshares by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,118 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares in the last quarter. 29.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at National Bankshares

In related news, Director Lawrence J. Ball acquired 1,000 shares of National Bankshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $27.50 per share, for a total transaction of $27,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $602,415. This trade represents a 4.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

National Bankshares Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NKSH opened at $27.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $172.57 million, a PE ratio of 22.24 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.41. National Bankshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.00 and a 1-year high of $35.00.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NKSH shares. StockNews.com raised National Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of National Bankshares from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd.

National Bankshares Profile

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.