The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Short Interest Down 9.9% in October

The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 31,510,000 shares, a decrease of 9.9% from the September 30th total of 34,990,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,620,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 19.5 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE BNS opened at $51.50 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.56. The stock has a market cap of $63.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.05. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 12-month low of $40.21 and a 12-month high of $55.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 9.84% and a return on equity of 11.14%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were issued a $0.768 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $3.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.97%. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,862,189 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,478,304,000 after purchasing an additional 891,157 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 16.1% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 17,015,877 shares of the bank’s stock worth $881,082,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361,136 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,091,880 shares of the bank’s stock worth $690,438,000 after purchasing an additional 683,946 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 17.6% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 14,563,337 shares of the bank’s stock worth $753,658,000 after purchasing an additional 2,178,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 0.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,281,724 shares of the bank’s stock worth $424,497,000 after purchasing an additional 57,796 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

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.