Savvy acquisitions set to spur their dividends

Article Excerpt

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $69 (Toronto symbol BNS; Income-Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $82.8 billion; Dividend yield: 4.9%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) is the third-largest of Canada’s five big banks with assets of $946.7 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia last raised its quarterly dividend by 3.7% with the August 2018 payment. Investors now receive $0.85 a share instead of $0.82. The new annual rate of $3.40 yields a high 4.9%. The bank has completed several acquisitions in the past few months. Those include buying 68.19% of BBVA Chile for $2.2 billion U.S. BBVA is the South American country’s sixth-largest bank. In May 2018, it paid $950 million in stock for Jarislowsky Fraser. The Montreal wealth management firm caters to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. Bank of Nova Scotia also recently completed its purchase of MD Financial Management, which sells wealth management services to Canadian medical doctors and their families. The bank paid $2.6 billion in cash for that privately held…