The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.00.

Several research firms recently weighed in on BNS. TD Securities upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE BNS opened at $53.93 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.12. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 52 week low of $41.80 and a 52 week high of $55.12. The company has a market cap of $67.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.05.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 11.14% and a net margin of 9.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.768 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $3.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.70%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Nova Scotia

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 11.8% during the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 136,337 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,235,000 after purchasing an additional 14,379 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 2,455.8% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,521,906 shares of the bank’s stock worth $69,627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462,360 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 48.3% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,563,594 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,201,000 after purchasing an additional 509,120 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,091,880 shares of the bank’s stock worth $690,438,000 after purchasing an additional 683,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 5,380.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,972,234 shares of the bank’s stock worth $216,447,000 after purchasing an additional 3,899,760 shares in the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.