Two Sigma Securities LLC Takes Position in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) $BNS

Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new position in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 12,201 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BNS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the fourth quarter valued at $1,368,456,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,016,738,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the second quarter worth approximately $709,837,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the second quarter valued at approximately $567,278,000. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 16,489,540 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,216,157,000 after purchasing an additional 5,461,052 shares during the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

NYSE:BNS opened at $91.57 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.26. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 52-week low of $61.69 and a 52-week high of $94.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.11.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 25th. The bank reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.11 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 16.12% and a net margin of 13.91%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 6.14 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $4.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s payout ratio is currently 58.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BNS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $98.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. TD Securities raised Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. National Bank Financial upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Friday, August 21st. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Company Profile

Bank of Nova Scotia, commonly known as Scotiabank, is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company founded in 1832 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. It is one of Canada’s largest banks and provides a broad range of financial services to retail, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. The bank combines a domestic Canadian franchise with an extensive international presence to serve customers across multiple markets.

Scotiabank’s core activities include personal and commercial banking, wealth management, corporate and investment banking, capital markets, and global transaction banking.