Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Boosts Stock Position in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its stake in shares of The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 2.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 860,532 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,058 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $43,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,115 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,548 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan Co. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 4,204 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 4,772 shares of the bank’s stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 16,443 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,179,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. 43.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Bank of Nova Scotia from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.33.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia stock opened at $44.43 on Tuesday. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a twelve month low of $39.79 and a twelve month high of $55.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.04. The firm has a market cap of $53.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.33, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.02.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 29th. The bank reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $8.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.16 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 12.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.7801 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 29th. Bank of Nova Scotia’s payout ratio is 65.55%.

Bank of Nova Scotia 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 in four segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets.