Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) Receives $106.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $106.00.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BNS shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $97.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Tuesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Nova Scotia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BNS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,237,537 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,221,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169,073 shares during the period. Canerector Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 8,899.0% in the 3rd quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 26,997,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,745,356,000 after buying an additional 26,697,000 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 18,674,585 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,379,120,000 after buying an additional 310,564 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bank of Nova Scotia in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,368,456,000. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 16,489,540 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,216,157,000 after acquiring an additional 5,461,052 shares during the period. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia stock opened at $72.95 on Tuesday. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1 year low of $44.09 and a 1 year high of $78.28. The firm has a market cap of $89.93 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The bank reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.99 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 EPS for the current year.

About Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia, commonly known as Scotiabank, is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company founded in 1832 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. It is one of Canada’s largest banks and provides a broad range of financial services to retail, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. The bank combines a domestic Canadian franchise with an extensive international presence to serve customers across multiple markets.

Scotiabank’s core activities include personal and commercial banking, wealth management, corporate and investment banking, capital markets, and global transaction banking.