Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) Sets New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from C$72.00 to C$84.00. The company traded as high as C$77.08 and last traded at C$76.63, with a volume of 462306 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$75.94.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on BNS. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Cormark cut their target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from C$68.00 to C$65.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from C$80.00 to C$82.00 in a research note on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$70.17.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of C$96.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.56, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of C$72.71 and a 200 day moving average price of C$67.19.

Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported C$1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.63. The company had revenue of C$8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$8.50 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 25.38% and a return on equity of 9.49%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 7.1286267 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.48%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.26%.

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.