Short Interest in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) Increases By 18.0%

Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 6,183,278 shares, an increase of 18.0% from the February 26th total of 5,240,205 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,128,381 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Nova Scotia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BNS. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD bought a new position in Bank of Nova Scotia during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in Bank of Nova Scotia during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:BNS opened at $70.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $86.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.10. Bank of Nova Scotia has a one year low of $44.09 and a one year high of $78.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.17.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The bank reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.06. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 12.49% and a net margin of 12.40%.The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. Bank of Nova Scotia’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BNS. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price 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. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Nova Scotia has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.00.

About Bank of Nova Scotia

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.