Dividend.com analyzes the search patterns of our visitors each week. By sharing these trends with our readers, we hope to provide insights into what the financial world is concerned about and how to position your portfolio.
This week’s trending stocks center on both the Bank of Nova Scotia and the Royal Bank of Canada, which analysts upgraded this week, causing both stocks to rise. After releasing a major production big budget movie, Netflix’s stock continues to hit new all-time highs. Finally, the Powershares QQQ saw the week’s biggest ETF inflows.
You can view our previous Trends article here, which revolved around CVS’s plan to buy Aetna, along with other merger news and a major share buyback program.
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS ) was this week’s top-trending topic with an increase in viewership of 68%. The stock went into ex-dividend on December 29. Analysts from National Bank Financial issued the company’s projected earnings at $7.43 per share for 2018. Upon this news, National Bank Financial issued an outperform rating with a target price of $88.00. Along with National Bank Financial, several other analysts upgraded their price targets for BNS. CIBC and Canaccord Genuity both lifted their price targets to $92.00, while Royal Bank of Canada raised its target to $91.00. In total, eight analysts now have an outperform rating on BNS.
Over the last five days, the price of BNS has gone up 0.71%. For the trailing one-year, the company has increased 15.47% but only 12.14% for the trailing five-years. The company currently pays $2.50 per share on an annual basis, which is equal to a 3.84% yield. The bank has a strong earnings growth record, which has led to dividend increases in 43 of the last 45 years, making Bank of Nova Scotia one of the most consistent records for dividend growth among major Canadian corporations.

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