Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Lowers Holdings in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its stake in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 1.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,954,624 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 49,872 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $180,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BNS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,862,189 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,478,304,000 after acquiring an additional 891,157 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 19,841,901 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $970,577,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731,541 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 16.1% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 17,015,877 shares of the bank’s stock worth $881,082,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361,136 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 14,563,337 shares of the bank’s stock worth $753,658,000 after purchasing an additional 2,178,633 shares during the period. Finally, JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 13,163,545 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $643,900,000 after buying an additional 542,398 shares during the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on BNS shares. StockNews.com lowered Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

Shares of BNS opened at $54.07 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a 52 week low of $39.79 and a 52 week high of $54.22. The stock has a market cap of $66.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 11.14% and a net margin of 9.84%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.768 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $3.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.68%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.72%.

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.