Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Grows Position in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,800 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $1,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rathbones Group PLC grew its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 136,337 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,235,000 after purchasing an additional 14,379 shares during the last quarter. Tobam lifted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 49.7% during the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 4,130 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,371 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2,455.8% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,521,906 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462,360 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,091,880 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $690,438,000 after acquiring an additional 683,946 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 5,380.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,972,234 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $216,447,000 after acquiring an additional 3,899,760 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BNS opened at $51.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a 12 month low of $41.46 and a 12 month high of $55.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.59. The stock has a market cap of $64.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.42, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.05.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.01. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 9.84% and a return on equity of 11.14%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were paid a $0.768 dividend. This represents a $3.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.00.

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.