Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG) Short Interest Down 32.2% in August

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 7,991,755 shares, a decrease of 32.2% from the July 30th total of 11,795,198 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,830,170 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Mizuho Financial Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mizuho Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Strong Buy”.

Mizuho Financial Group Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE MFG opened at $10.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $132.77 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.46. Mizuho Financial Group has a one year low of $6.09 and a one year high of $11.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE:MFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The bank reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. Mizuho Financial Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 17.15%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mizuho Financial Group will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mizuho Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Mizuho Financial Group by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 59,084,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $432,499,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,984 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mizuho Financial Group by 590.7% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,560,891 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,226,000 after purchasing an additional 14,163,328 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mizuho Financial Group by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 16,266,878 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $119,074,000 after purchasing an additional 1,716,932 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Mizuho Financial Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,602,417 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,436,000 after purchasing an additional 216,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Mizuho Financial Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,314,793 shares of the bank’s stock worth $69,109,000 after purchasing an additional 167,604 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 3.26% of the company’s stock.

Mizuho Financial Group Company Profile

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc is a major Japanese banking and financial services holding company headquartered in Tokyo. The group operates through a network of subsidiaries that provide a full range of retail, corporate and investment banking services. Its core businesses include deposit-taking and lending, transaction banking, cash management, trade finance and treasury services for both individual and institutional clients.

Beyond traditional commercial banking, Mizuho offers securities and capital markets services, investment banking, underwriting, M&A advisory, and asset management through its securities and trust banking arms.