Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $78.28 and last traded at $77.1780, with a volume of 1378335 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $77.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BNS has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Down 0.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $73.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.11.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 2nd. The bank reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $6.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 12.10% and a net margin of 10.60%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 6th were issued a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 6th. Bank of Nova Scotia’s payout ratio is currently 79.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BNS. Canerector Inc. increased its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 8,899.0% in the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 26,997,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,745,356,000 after purchasing an additional 26,697,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the 4th quarter worth $1,368,456,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 83.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,148,255 shares of the bank’s stock worth $726,704,000 after buying an additional 5,979,338 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,800,305 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $635,730,000 after buying an additional 3,007,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 555.8% in the 2nd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 3,062,126 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $168,984,000 after acquiring an additional 2,595,186 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Nova Scotia Company Profile

Bank of Nova Scotia, commonly known as Scotiabank, is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company founded in 1832 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. It is one of Canada’s largest banks and provides a broad range of financial services to retail, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. The bank combines a domestic Canadian franchise with an extensive international presence to serve customers across multiple markets.

Scotiabank’s core activities include personal and commercial banking, wealth management, corporate and investment banking, capital markets, and global transaction banking.