Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.00.

BNS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Bank of Nova Scotia from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Nova Scotia

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BNS. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.3% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 10,801 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.2% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,938 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of Nova Scotia in the first quarter valued at about $81,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 16.6% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,992 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 5.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,155,791 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,819,000 after purchasing an additional 60,506 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

BNS stock opened at $65.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $63.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.76. The company has a market capitalization of $81.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.16. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1-year low of $44.09 and a 1-year high of $66.10.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 26th. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.29 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 11.61% and a net margin of 9.74%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.