Portland Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires Shares of 37,800 Bank of Nova Scotia (The) $BNS

Portland Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 37,800 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,286,000. Bank of Nova Scotia makes up about 0.9% of Portland Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BNS. Maseco LLP purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 1,366.7% in the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Nova Scotia Price Performance

Bank of Nova Scotia stock opened at $87.56 on Monday. Bank of Nova Scotia has a one year low of $56.55 and a one year high of $92.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $87.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.11.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The bank reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.05. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 13.38%.The company had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 6.03 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $98.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Nova Scotia presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.00.

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.