Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Rating Increased to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. TD Securities raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BNS opened at $56.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $53.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.29. Bank of Nova Scotia has a fifty-two week low of $41.80 and a fifty-two week high of $56.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.05.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 9.84% and a return on equity of 11.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 9.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 24,990,868 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,361,752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,195,604 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 17,015,877 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $881,082,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361,136 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,091,880 shares of the bank’s stock worth $690,438,000 after buying an additional 683,946 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 24.9% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 11,757,961 shares of the bank’s stock worth $640,624,000 after buying an additional 2,346,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 10,074,518 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $550,729,000 after buying an additional 240,803 shares during the period. 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.