NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

National Penn

(Nasdaq:

NPBC

) hit a new 52-week high Friday as it is currently trading at $9.21, above its previous 52-week high of $9.03 with 81,976 shares traded as of 10:05 a.m. ET. Average volume has been 829,500 shares over the past 30 days.

National Penn has a market cap of $1.35 billion and is part of the

financial

sector and

banking

industry. Shares are up 6.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

National Penn Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for National Penn Bank that provides commercial banking products and services to residents and businesses primarily in eastern and central Pennsylvania. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.9, below the average banking industry P/E ratio of 19.3 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

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TheStreet Ratings rates National Penn as a

buy

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself. You can view the full

National Penn Ratings Report

.

See all

52-week high stocks

or get investment ideas from our

investment research center

.

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