Scotiabank tops third-quarter profit estimates, raises dividend

Scotiabank reported $1.847 billion of third-quarter net income Friday, capping off what analysts have described as a solid quarter for the banks despite a flurry of concerns in recent months about how oilpatch woes might affect the lenders.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS – Get Report) shares are down by 1.61% to $44.55 on Friday morning, following today’s release of the company’s 2015 third quarter earnings results.

Shares closed up 2.5% at C$59.98 on Thursday, paring this year’s slump to 9.6%.

If we break down the analyst ratings into a simplified scale, Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) has a Buy-Sell rating of 2.5.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on BNS. Bank of Nova Scotia has a 1-year low of $39.55 and a 1-year high of $66.87.

The bank’s global banking and markets division saw a 20 per cent decline in net income, which fell by $92 million from a strong quarter past year to $375 million. RBC Capital upgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Friday, May 29th.

The bank set aside C$480mln for bad loans, up 21% from C$398mln. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $68.02.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (the Bank) is a Canada-based diversified financial institution. The Bank has four business lines: Canadian Banking, worldwide Banking, Scotia Capital and Global Wealth Management.

Worldwide banking contributed $537 million, up $51 million or 10.5 per cent as a result of strong loan growth across Latin America, higher fee income and contributions from investments and a positive impact from foreign currency translation. Worldwide Banking comprises the retail and commercial banking operations of Scotiabank in more than 55 nations outside Canada.

On Tuesday, Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO), the country’s fourth-largest bank, reported better-than-estimated profit, helped by gains in consumer banking and wealth management.