58% buyers of institutions opening or closing positions this quarter
20 more new buyers than exits, ownership fell 6.95 percentage points vs the prior quarter, and no widely-followed fund managers in the top 25.
58% buyers of institutions opening or closing positions this quarter
37.6% institutional ownership
SCOTIA CAPITAL INC. portfolio allocation
Institutional ownership vs Banks - Diversified peers
No Form 4 insider transactions on file
Latest positioning in BNS across 13F flow, ownership shift, marquee holders, and holder-count growth.
Ranked by reported Q1 2026 13F market value
Share of total reported institutional value in BNS held by the largest 10 / 25 filers.
| # | Institution | Shares Held | Market Value | QoQ Change | Ownership % | % of Fund |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ROYAL BANK OF CANADA | 90.3M | $6.26B | -16.5% | 7.301% | 1.10% |
| 2 | BANK OF MONTREAL /CAN/ | 56.7M | $3.93B | -4.1% | 4.584% | 1.46% |
| 3 | VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC | 35.7M | $2.47B | — | 2.886% | 0.06% |
| 4 | CIBC World Markets Inc. | 27.3M | $1.89B | -10.4% | 2.207% | 3.09% |
| 5 | TORONTO DOMINION BANK | 20.1M | $1.39B | -24.4% | 1.624% | 2.00% |
| 6 | TD ASSET MANAGEMENT INC | 19.2M | $1.33B | +2.7% | 1.552% | 1.08% |
| 7 | 1832 Asset Management L.P. | 18.3M | $1.27B | -2.7% | 1.477% | 1.16% |
| 8 | NATIONAL BANK OF CANADA /FI/ | 16.4M | $1.14B | -7.9% | 1.327% | 1.02% |
| 9 | SCOTIA CAPITAL INC. | 13.4M | $929.0M | -2.9% | 1.086% | 3.82% |
| 10 | GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC | 12.8M | $916.9M | +4.7% | 1.039% | 0.06% |
| 11 | VANGUARD FIDUCIARY TRUST CO | 11.0M | $760.7M | — | 0.887% | 0.19% |
| 12 | TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. | 9.7M | $675.7M | +107.6% | 0.783% | 2.00% |
| 13 | Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. | 9.3M | $647.2M | -8.4% | 0.755% | 1.49% |
| 14 | CANADA PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT BOARD | 9.1M | $632.1M | -15.4% | 0.737% | 0.41% |
| 15 | FIL Ltd | 9.0M | $627.1M | -45.2% | 0.731% | 0.49% |
| 16 | CIBC Asset Management Inc | 8.8M | $611.5M | -10.8% | 0.711% | 1.49% |
| 17 | Vanguard Global Advisers, LLC | 8.8M | $608.7M | — | 0.710% | 0.33% |
| 18 | MACKENZIE FINANCIAL CORP | 8.6M | $599.5M | -10.6% | 0.699% | 0.72% |
| 19 | Legal & General Group Plc | 8.4M | $580.3M | -1.0% | 0.679% | 0.13% |
| 20 | Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec | 7.7M | $533.4M | -3.9% | 0.625% | 1.92% |
| 21 | DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LP | 6.0M | $416.4M | +2.6% | 0.486% | 0.09% |
| 22 | HEALTHCARE OF ONTARIO PENSION PLAN TRUST FUND | 5.5M | $384.0M | -41.4% | 0.448% | 0.62% |
| 23 | GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC | 5.5M | $379.0M | +15.6% | 0.442% | 0.04% |
| 24 | MANUFACTURERS LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, THE | 5.3M | $369.7M | -23.4% | 0.432% | 0.32% |
| 25 | BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ | 5.0M | $348.3M | +8.7% | 0.406% | 0.03% |
denotes a marquee investor (Buffett, Burry, ARK, Tiger Global, Pershing Square, Baupost and other widely-followed managers). “% of Fund” shows how much of that investor’s total 13F portfolio is invested in BNS — a direct measure of their conviction.
Filings activity in BNS during Q1 2026, grouped by how each filer changed its position.
Institutions that opened a new BNS position in Q1 2026
Institutions that fully closed their BNS position in Q1 2026
8 quarters of 13F filings · Δ columns show change vs prior quarter
| Quarter | Inst. Holders | Δ Holders | Ownership % | Δ Ownership | Total 13F Value | Δ Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 492 | +4.2% | 37.57% | 6.95 pp | $37.35B | 16% |
| Q4 2025 | 472 | +5.8% | 44.52% | +6.26 pp | $44.26B | +16% |
| Q3 2025 | 446 | +5.4% | 38.26% | 161.73 pp | $38.03B | 99% |
| Q2 2025 | 423 | +5.0% | 199.99% | +172.05 pp | $3.82T | +13650% |
| Q1 2025 | 403 | 4.5% | 27.94% | 0.57 pp | $27.78B | 2.0% |
| Q4 2024 | 422 | +5.8% | 28.51% | 8.26 pp | $28.34B | 22% |
| Q3 2024 | 399 | +4.7% | 36.77% | 163.22 pp | $36.55B | 96% |
| Q2 2024 | 381 | — | 199.99% | — | $844.00B | — |
Source: SEC 13F institutional filings. Ownership % requires market cap data and will show once linked. Δ columns compare to the immediately prior filed quarter.
No recent Form 4 insider transactions on file for BNS.
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying BNS stock.
Based on Q1 2026 13F filings, institutional ownership of The Bank of Nova Scotia stands at 37.6%, held across 492 reporting institutions.
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA is the largest reported institutional holder of BNS, with approximately 90,258,668 shares worth $6.26B as of Q1 2026.
No marquee "smart money" managers (Berkshire, Burry, ARK, Tiger Global, Pershing Square, Baupost, etc.) currently appear among the top 25 institutional holders of BNS.
Our composite Smart Money Score for BNS is 27 out of 100 (Bearish). It combines net institutional buying activity, ownership shift, marquee investor presence, and holder-count growth.
72 institutions opened new positions in BNS during Q1 2026, while 52 fully exited. 101 added to existing positions and 314 trimmed.
BNS institutional ownership fell by 6.95 percentage points quarter-over-quarter, with a net change of — holders.
The top 10 institutions account for 57.6% of all reported 13F value in BNS, and the top 25 account for 79.5%.
All data is sourced from SEC Form 13F filings, which institutional investment managers with at least $100M in assets are required to file each quarter. We process every 13F filing from EDGAR and recompute the aggregates after each cycle. Insider transactions are sourced from Form 4 filings.