First Trust Advisors LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) $BNS

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 742,957 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 109,710 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $48,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BNS. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 3,304.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 783 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia in the 2nd quarter worth $55,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia in the 3rd quarter worth $67,000. Finally, MAI Capital Management raised its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 27.4% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,543 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $97.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE BNS opened at $71.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.48. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1 year low of $44.09 and a 1 year high of $78.28.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The bank reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 12.49% and a net margin of 12.40%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.

About Bank of Nova Scotia

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.