Legal & General Group Plc Sells 366,128 Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (The) $BNS

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 4.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,635,861 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 366,128 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.61% of Bank of Nova Scotia worth $421,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BNS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,200,107 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,330,000 after buying an additional 44,316 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 1,439.7% during the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 108,750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,011,000 after acquiring an additional 101,687 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the second quarter worth approximately $21,803,000. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2.9% in the second quarter. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,188,376 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,755,000 after acquiring an additional 33,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 261.9% in the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 15,811 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $874,000 after acquiring an additional 11,442 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on BNS. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of Nova Scotia currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BNS opened at $66.64 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.19 and its 200-day moving average is $58.97. Bank of Nova Scotia has a twelve month low of $44.09 and a twelve month high of $68.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.17.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 26th. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.09. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $6.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.