Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS) hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. Bank of America now has a C$90.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of C$73.00. Bank of Nova Scotia traded as high as C$77.08 and last traded at C$76.63, with a volume of 462306 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$75.94.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$65.00 to C$69.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from C$72.00 to C$84.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, CIBC raised Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Nova Scotia currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$73.75.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$72.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$67.29. The company has a market capitalization of C$97.19 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported C$1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of C$1.63. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 25.38% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The business had revenue of C$8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$8.50 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 7.1286267 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.41%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s payout ratio is currently 74.26%.

Bank of Nova Scotia Company Profile

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.