Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Decreases Stake in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC reduced its position in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,032 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,691,098 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,083,057,000 after buying an additional 725,489 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.4% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 22,567,680 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,028,861,000 after buying an additional 736,807 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 8.7% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,684,313 shares of the bank’s stock worth $665,191,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256,868 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.4% during the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 13,387,765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $600,211,000 after acquiring an additional 183,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,194,388 shares of the bank’s stock worth $368,423,000 after acquiring an additional 314,943 shares during the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays assumed coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Up 0.7 %

BNS opened at $46.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $56.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $48.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.45. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a one year low of $39.79 and a one year high of $51.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The bank reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.01 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 10.71%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.9 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.7843 per share. This is a boost from Bank of Nova Scotia’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.96%.

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.