Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Sells 23,672 Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (The) $BNS

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC decreased its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 44.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 29,756 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 23,672 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $1,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,005,337 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,041,575,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,166 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the second quarter valued at $838,738,000. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 14,231,690 shares of the bank’s stock worth $786,729,000 after acquiring an additional 90,158 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Bank of Nova Scotia by 83.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,148,255 shares of the bank’s stock worth $726,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,979,338 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,088,450 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $564,941,000 after purchasing an additional 1,684,510 shares during the last quarter. 49.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BNS. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Nova Scotia currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE BNS opened at $74.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Bank of Nova Scotia has a one year low of $44.09 and a one year high of $76.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.11.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 2nd. The bank reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 12.10% and a net margin of 10.60%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 6th were issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 6th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s payout ratio is 79.60%.

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.