Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Grows Position in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) $BNS

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 163.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,361,500 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 844,200 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia comprises 9.1% of Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $100,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 55.4% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,517,072 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $98,118,000 after purchasing an additional 540,526 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 50.7% during the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,645,842 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $106,435,000 after purchasing an additional 553,720 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 30.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,690,883 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $497,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,608 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 44.3% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,800,305 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $635,730,000 after purchasing an additional 3,007,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First National Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 54.5% during the third quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 44,415 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 15,676 shares in the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Bank of Nova Scotia from $97.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Up 0.0%

Bank of Nova Scotia stock opened at $79.79 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $98.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Bank of Nova Scotia has a one year low of $51.00 and a one year high of $80.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $73.65 and a 200 day moving average of $72.92.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The bank reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 12.49% and a net margin of 12.40%.Bank of Nova Scotia’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 6.03 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia 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.