Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE BNS opened at $56.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.34. Bank of Nova Scotia has a one year low of $41.80 and a one year high of $56.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 9.84% and a return on equity of 11.14%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were issued a $0.768 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $3.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.46%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s payout ratio is currently 74.88%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Nova Scotia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 9.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 24,990,868 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,361,752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,195,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 10.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,640,471 shares of the bank’s stock worth $310,817,000 after acquiring an additional 524,496 shares in the last quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the third quarter worth approximately $619,000. Abel Hall LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the third quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 27.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 214,957 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,712,000 after acquiring an additional 46,421 shares in the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by 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.