Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 150,247 Shares of The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 4.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,744,062 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 150,247 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $204,214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 22,677 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,174,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the first quarter worth about $1,740,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 6.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 143,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,230 shares in the last quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd bought a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $393,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in Bank of Nova Scotia in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,112,000. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Nova Scotia has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Up 0.4 %

BNS opened at $56.45 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.42 and a 200 day moving average of $49.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a 12 month low of $41.80 and a 12 month high of $56.71. The firm has a market cap of $70.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 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 the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 11.14% and a net margin of 9.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.53 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.768 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $3.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.44%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.88%.

Bank of Nova Scotia Company 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.