Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Stock Rating Upgraded by UBS Group

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) was upgraded by analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. TD Securities raised Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of BNS stock opened at $56.12 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.25. Bank of Nova Scotia has a twelve month low of $41.80 and a twelve month high of $56.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Nova Scotia

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rathbones Group PLC raised its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 11.8% in the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 136,337 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,235,000 after buying an additional 14,379 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 2,455.8% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,521,906 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,627,000 after buying an additional 1,462,360 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 48.3% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,563,594 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,201,000 after purchasing an additional 509,120 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,091,880 shares of the bank’s stock worth $690,438,000 after purchasing an additional 683,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 5,380.9% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,972,234 shares of the bank’s stock worth $216,447,000 after purchasing an additional 3,899,760 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

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.