National Bank Financial
National Bank Financial Inc.
National Bank Financial is the investment dealer of National Bank of Canada, operating institutionally as National Bank Capital Markets and serving retail clients as National Bank Financial Wealth Management. Its equity research concentrates on Canadian companies.
Company history
National Bank of Canada, formed in 1979 by the merger of Banque Canadienne Nationale and the Provincial Bank of Canada, bought Montreal brokerage Lévesque Beaubien in 1988 and merged it with Geoffrion Leclerc in 1989. In 1999 it acquired Toronto's First Marathon, the last of Canada's large independent brokers, for C$712 million and combined it with Lévesque Beaubien Geoffrion as National Bank Financial. NBF acquired U.S. investment bank Putnam Lovell in 2002.
- 1979National Bank of Canada formed by bank merger
- 1988Parent acquires brokerage Lévesque Beaubien
- 1989Lévesque Beaubien merges with Geoffrion Leclerc
- 1999First Marathon acquired; National Bank Financial created
- 2002Acquires U.S. investment bank Putnam Lovell
Research
The equity research department, headed in 2026 by Greg Colman, covers Canadian companies from large caps to junior resource issuers. National Bank Financial placed sixth in Extel's 2025 Canada research survey. Stocks are rated Outperform, Sector Perform or Underperform relative to the analyst's coverage universe over 12 months, with a Speculative risk qualifier; the Economics & Strategy group assigns separate Overweight, Market Weight and Underweight industry weightings.
Coverage12M
- Stocks
- 94
- Ratings
- 42
- Price targets
- 118
- Median upside
- +18.5%
- Upgrades
- 15
- Downgrades
- 9
- Initiations
- 12
- Reiterations
- 6
- Targets raised
- 43
- Targets cut
- 26
- Positive67%22
- Neutral33%11
- Negative0%0
Sectors
Ratings
Listing
Activity24M
Most covered24M
| Stock | Rating | Target |
|---|---|---|
 LNCLincoln National Corporation | — | $50 |
 VLYValley National Bancorp | — | $17.50 |
 FNFFidelity National Financial, Inc. | — | $54 |
 SNDRSchneider National, Inc. | — | $38 |
 SFNCSimmons First National Corporation | — | $26 |
 CACCamden National Corporation | — | $60 |
| CNCN | Outperform | $27.27 |
 FHNFirst Horizon Corporation | — | $30 |
| NANABZY | Buy | $39.78 |
 NHPNational Healthcare Properties, Inc. (NHP) | — | $18 |
Analysts24M
- Terry MaFNF4
- Janet LeeVLY · FHN3
- Anthony ElianVLY · ONB3
- Damon DelMonteCAC3
- Bob HuangLNC3
- Alex TerentiewAG · CDE · HL3
Recent actions
| Stock | Rating action | Rating | Target | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADAdaptive Biotechnologies CorporationADPT | Target | $34 | Sep 22 | |
| CNCNNRF | Initiate | Sector Perform | Sep 21 | |
| CNCN | Initiate | Outperform | Sep 21 | |
| BYBYAGF | Initiate | Outperform | Sep 21 | |
| NANABZY | Upgrade | Neutral →Buy | Sep 16 | |
| Camden National CorporationCAC | Target | $55 →$60 | Sep 15 | |
| ENEnbridge Inc.ENB | Upgrade | Sector Perform →Outperform | Sep 15 | |
| MDMDA Space LtdMDA | Initiate | Outperform | Sep 14 | |
| CLCLNFF | Initiate | Outperform | Sep 14 | |
| ONOld National BancorpONB | Target | $30 →$32 | Sep 11 | |
| TLTLOFF | Reiterate | Outperform | Sep 10 | |
| NANABZY | Upgrade | Buy →Neutral | Sep 10 |
Similar coverage12M
References
- National Bank of Canada - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- National Bank buys First Marathon - CBC Newscbc.ca
- National Bank of Canada - Encyclopedia.com company historyencyclopedia.com
- National Bank research report on Tenaz Energy with rating definitions (March 2026)static1.squarespace.com
- Vision Monthly, February 2026 - National Bank Financialnbdb.ca
- RBC's Art & Science of Research Pays Dividends - Extel Canada 2025extelinsights.com