Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the five analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $106.00.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BNS. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Nova Scotia

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Canerector Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 8,899.0% during the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 26,997,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,745,356,000 after acquiring an additional 26,697,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the fourth quarter worth $1,368,456,000. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 16,489,540 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,216,157,000 after acquiring an additional 5,461,052 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 3,120.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,556,295 shares of the bank’s stock worth $262,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,445,856 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 44.3% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,800,305 shares of the bank’s stock worth $635,730,000 after acquiring an additional 3,007,407 shares during the period. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Nova Scotia Price Performance

Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia stock opened at $77.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.13. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1-year low of $51.00 and a 1-year high of $79.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $72.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.42.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The bank reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.06. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. Bank of Nova Scotia’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.