Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Lowers Holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. reduced its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 9.7%, holding 214,454 shares after selling 23,089 shares in the first quarter.
• The bank reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.06, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14, with revenues of $6.59 billion compared to expectations of $8.98 billion.
• Bank of Nova Scotia increased its quarterly dividend to $0.7996 per share, raising the annualized yield to 5.8%.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lessened its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS - Free Report) TSE: BNS by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 214,454 shares of the bank's stock after selling 23,089 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.'s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $10,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,007 shares of the bank's stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 100.1% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,646 shares of the bank's stock valued at $626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,825 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,368 shares of the bank's stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 66.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 157,398 shares of the bank's stock valued at $8,455,000 after purchasing an additional 62,880 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,299,271 shares of the bank's stock valued at $69,680,000 after purchasing an additional 12,073 shares during the period. 49.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Up 1.0%

Bank of Nova Scotia stock traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $55.98. 709,709 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,965,109. Bank of Nova Scotia has a fifty-two week low of $43.67 and a fifty-two week high of $57.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.14. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $54.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS - Get Free Report) TSE: BNS last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 27th. The bank reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.08). Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 8.83%. The firm had revenue of $6.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. Bank of Nova Scotia's revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.7996 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. This is a boost from Bank of Nova Scotia's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of Nova Scotia's payout ratio is 94.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of Nova Scotia presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $81.00.

About Bank of Nova Scotia

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.