Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at UBS Group

UBS Group began coverage on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Bank of Nova Scotia from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Barclays began coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an underweight rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $68.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Up 0.7 %

BNS opened at $45.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $56.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $46.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.65. Bank of Nova Scotia has a twelve month low of $39.79 and a twelve month high of $51.98.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 28th. The bank reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 11.40%. Research analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.769 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.72%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.72%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Nova Scotia

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 45,169 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,059,000 after buying an additional 3,335 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 77.4% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,749 shares of the bank’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 4,252 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 37.1% during the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 12,929 shares of the bank’s stock worth $589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,497 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 5.3% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,145,226 shares of the bank’s stock worth $321,731,000 after purchasing an additional 360,241 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,519,128 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $251,617,000 after purchasing an additional 184,149 shares in the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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 through Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets segments.