Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Raises Holdings in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its stake in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 474,559 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 16,743 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $25,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BNS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,363,146 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,758,150,000 after acquiring an additional 969,488 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 24,990,868 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,361,752,000 after purchasing an additional 2,195,604 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,966,078 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,017,933,000 after purchasing an additional 308,837 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the 4th quarter worth about $690,746,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 10,259,279 shares of the bank’s stock worth $551,766,000 after buying an additional 184,761 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BNS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Bank of Nova Scotia from $83.00 to $81.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America lowered Bank of Nova Scotia from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, CIBC reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Down 3.0 %

BNS stock opened at $46.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $58.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.16. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a 52 week low of $43.68 and a 52 week high of $57.07.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.7415 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.32%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.77%.

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.