Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) Lowered to Neutral Rating by Bank of America

Bank of America cut shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. Bank of America currently has C$70.00 price target on the bank’s stock, down from their previous price target of C$82.00.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on BNS. CIBC lowered their target price on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$81.00 to C$75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from C$83.00 to C$81.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Accountability Research set a C$82.00 price target on Bank of Nova Scotia and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, TD Securities set a C$81.00 target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$76.73.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

Shares of BNS stock opened at C$68.23 on Monday. Bank of Nova Scotia has a fifty-two week low of C$60.68 and a fifty-two week high of C$80.14. The firm has a market capitalization of C$83.61 billion, a PE ratio of 10.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$71.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$73.68.

Bank of Nova Scotia Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.00%.

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.