Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Has $336,000 Stock Position in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 9.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,710 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 703 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the second quarter worth $82,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 75,402 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,777,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 48.1% in the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,444 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 44.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 34,967 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after purchasing an additional 10,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 15.4% in the second quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 6,423 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BNS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of Nova Scotia from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on Bank of Nova Scotia from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.33.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE BNS opened at $43.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $52.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.02. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a 12 month low of $39.79 and a 12 month high of $55.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.61.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 29th. The bank reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $8.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.16 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 12.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.7801 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 29th. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.55%.

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 in four segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets.