Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Rating Increased to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS - Free Report) TSE: BNS from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on BNS. TD Securities raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Price Performance

BNS traded up $0.88 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.12. 1,918,832 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,788,986. Bank of Nova Scotia has a twelve month low of $41.80 and a twelve month high of $56.17. The company has a market cap of $69.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.25.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS - Get Free Report) TSE: BNS last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during 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%. The company's revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.47%. Bank of Nova Scotia's payout ratio is 74.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Nova Scotia

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 11.8% in the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 136,337 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,235,000 after buying an additional 14,379 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2,455.8% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,521,906 shares of the bank's stock valued at $69,627,000 after buying an additional 1,462,360 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 48.3% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,563,594 shares of the bank's stock valued at $85,201,000 after buying an additional 509,120 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,091,880 shares of the bank's stock valued at $690,438,000 after buying an additional 683,946 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 5,380.9% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,972,234 shares of the bank's stock valued at $216,447,000 after buying an additional 3,899,760 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.13% of the company's stock.

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.