Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV Sells 20,265 Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (The) $BNS

Key Points

• Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV cut its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 40.2%, selling 20,265 shares and leaving it with 30,150 shares valued at $2,222,000.
• Scotiabank beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $1.48 versus $1.42 expected and revenue of $7.40B versus $6.99B, though EPS fell year-over-year; analysts' consensus rating is Hold with an average target price of $106.00.
• Large institutions materially increased holdings—Public Sector Pension Investment Board and British Columbia Investment Management added roughly 1.29M and 2.18M shares respectively—leaving about 49.13% of the stock owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV cut its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS - Free Report) TSE: BNS by 40.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,150 shares of the bank's stock after selling 20,265 shares during the quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV's holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $2,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 1,073.1% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,410,536 shares of the bank's stock valued at $77,840,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290,300 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 315.0% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,873,828 shares of the bank's stock worth $159,014,000 after acquiring an additional 2,181,312 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 13.1% during the third quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 1,094,330 shares of the bank's stock worth $70,748,000 after purchasing an additional 126,409 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 4,728,837 shares of the bank's stock valued at $285,228,000 after purchasing an additional 495,797 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 55.4% during the 3rd 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 during the period. 49.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BNS. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $97.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Bank of Nova Scotia from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $106.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Price Performance

NYSE:BNS opened at $67.73 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.06. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1 year low of $44.09 and a 1 year high of $78.28.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS - Get Free Report) TSE: BNS last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The bank reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Company 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.

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