Barclays Upgrades Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) to “Hold”

Barclays upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from C$65.00 to C$69.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. 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 for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$71.00 to C$84.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of Nova Scotia presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$75.82.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

BNS stock opened at C$78.91 on Thursday. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 52-week low of C$56.83 and a 52-week high of C$79.16. The firm has a market capitalization of C$97.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$73.46 and a 200-day moving average price of C$67.64.

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

Bank of Nova Scotia Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is 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.