Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Holdings in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) by 700.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,568 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,122 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia were worth $194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rathbones Group PLC increased its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 136,337 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,235,000 after purchasing an additional 14,379 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2,455.8% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,521,906 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,360 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,563,594 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,201,000 after purchasing an additional 509,120 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,091,880 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $690,438,000 after purchasing an additional 683,946 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,744,062 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $204,214,000 after purchasing an additional 150,247 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

Shares of BNS opened at $56.72 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.60. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a 52 week low of $41.80 and a 52 week high of $56.81. The stock has a market cap of $70.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.05.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 11.14% and a net margin of 9.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.