Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Invests $120.46 Million in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,634,805 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $120,463,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BNS. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 86,506 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia in the second quarter valued at $648,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 97.5% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 148,110 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,774,000 after acquiring an additional 73,128 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Bank of Nova Scotia during the 2nd quarter worth $734,000. Finally, Sienna Gestion increased its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 38.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 16,954 shares of the bank’s stock worth $775,000 after purchasing an additional 4,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BNS shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. UBS Group began coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Nova Scotia presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BNS opened at $54.07 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $48.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1-year low of $39.79 and a 1-year high of $54.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.01. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 9.84% and a return on equity of 11.14%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. Bank of Nova Scotia’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.768 dividend. This represents a $3.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.72%.

About Bank of Nova Scotia

The Bank of Nova Scotia provides various banking products and services in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, the Caribbean and Central America, and internationally. It operates through Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets segments.