Canaccord Genuity Group Downgrades Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) to Hold

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) was downgraded by investment analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $97.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Nova Scotia has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia stock opened at $70.85 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.37. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1 year low of $44.09 and a 1 year high of $78.28. The company has a market capitalization of $87.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The bank reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.99 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.76 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Nova Scotia

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Canerector Inc. raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 8,899.0% in the 3rd quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 26,997,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,745,356,000 after purchasing an additional 26,697,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,368,456,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 83.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,148,255 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $726,704,000 after buying an additional 5,979,338 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 16,489,540 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,216,157,000 after buying an additional 5,461,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 3,120.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,556,295 shares of the bank’s stock worth $262,284,000 after buying an additional 3,445,856 shares in the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Bank of Nova Scotia

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.