The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS - Get Free Report) NYSE: BNS has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$77.92.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$74.00 to C$83.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from C$71.00 to C$84.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$72.00 to C$84.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from C$73.00 to C$90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BNS traded down C$0.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting C$74.10. 8,916,917 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,450,826. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1 year low of C$60.68 and a 1 year high of C$80.14. The firm's fifty day moving average is C$76.94 and its 200-day moving average is C$70.56. The stock has a market capitalization of C$91.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Bank of Nova Scotia Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.72%. Bank of Nova Scotia's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.26%.

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.