BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $72 - Toronto symbol BNS

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $72 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $86.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) has completed the sale of most of its shares in mutual fund company CI Financial (Toronto symbol CIX). That cut its stake to 7.7% from 36.8%.

The bank now expects to report an after-tax gain of $550 million on the sale, up from its earlier estimate of $400 million. That will help with its plan to buy back 1% of its outstanding shares by the end of May 2015.

Bank of Nova Scotia is a buy.

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