The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$77.92.

BNS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from C$73.00 to C$90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. CIBC lifted their price target on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$82.00 to C$84.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from C$71.00 to C$84.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Accountability Research set a C$82.00 target price on Bank of Nova Scotia and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of BNS stock opened at C$74.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of C$92.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.07, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$76.91 and a 200-day moving average of C$70.49. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 12-month low of C$60.68 and a 12-month high of C$80.14.

Bank of Nova Scotia Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.68%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.