The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Short Interest Up 18.3% in March

The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 30,220,000 shares, a growth of 18.3% from the March 15th total of 25,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 14.6 days. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BNS. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays began coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Nova Scotia currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Nova Scotia

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,971,032 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,287,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,279,934 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.4% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 22,567,680 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,028,861,000 after acquiring an additional 736,807 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 19,841,901 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $970,577,000 after acquiring an additional 3,731,541 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 16,557,752 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $809,940,000 after acquiring an additional 659,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $652,409,000. 49.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Performance

NYSE:BNS opened at $47.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $58.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $48.96 and its 200-day moving average is $46.30. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1-year low of $39.79 and a 1-year high of $51.98.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The bank reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.01 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 10.71%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.7843 per share. This is a boost from Bank of Nova Scotia’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Bank of Nova Scotia’s payout ratio is 34.96%.

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.