Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 7,023,314 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 237% from the previous session’s volume of 2,081,564 shares.The stock last traded at $70.3640 and had previously closed at $70.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BNS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Bank of Nova Scotia from $97.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings raised Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from 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

The firm has a market capitalization of $87.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The bank reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.06. The firm 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%.The company’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Nova Scotia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BNS. Canerector Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 8,899.0% in the 3rd quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 26,997,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,745,356,000 after buying an additional 26,697,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,368,456,000. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 49.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 16,489,540 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,216,157,000 after buying an additional 5,461,052 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 3,120.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,556,295 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $262,284,000 after buying an additional 3,445,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 44.3% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,800,305 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $635,730,000 after buying an additional 3,007,407 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

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.