Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 79,854 Shares of The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 28.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 359,146 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,854 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $18,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 1,388.9% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 536 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 3,127.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 581 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the first quarter valued at approximately $53,000. City State Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the third quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 102.1% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,605 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BNS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. TD Securities upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

Bank of Nova Scotia stock opened at $53.04 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.30 and a 200-day moving average of $48.66. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1 year low of $41.80 and a 1 year high of $55.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $65.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.05.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 9.84% and a return on equity of 11.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. On average, equities research 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.768 per share. This represents a $3.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.88%.

Bank of Nova Scotia 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.