Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$74.29 and last traded at C$73.64, with a volume of 696786 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$73.83.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on BNS. Cormark dropped their price target on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$68.00 to C$65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group set a C$67.00 price target on Bank of Nova Scotia and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. CIBC upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on Bank of Nova Scotia from C$69.00 to C$71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$68.25.

Bank of Nova Scotia Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of C$91.60 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$68.75 and a 200-day moving average price of C$65.99.

Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) (NYSE:BNS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported C$1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.63. The business had revenue of C$8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$8.50 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 25.38%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 7.1286267 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a $1.06 dividend. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of Nova Scotia’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.26%.

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.