TD's dividend keeps rising

Article Excerpt

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $81 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 911.7 million; Market cap: $73.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) earned $1.8 billion in the quarter ended July 31, 2012. That’s up 11.3% from $1.6 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 9.1%, to $1.91 from $1.75, on more shares outstanding. Revenue rose 8.5%, to $5.8 billion from $5.4 billion. Low interest rates continue to spur loan demand. As well, last year’s purchases of MBNA’s Canadian credit card operations and Chrysler Financial, which provides car loans to buyers of Chrysler vehicles, also contributed to the higher earnings. The bank set aside $438 million to cover bad loans in the latest quarter, up 15.3% from $380 million. However, that’s mainly due to the extra loans from the MBNA purchase. TD also raised its dividend for the second time this year. The new annual rate of $3.08 a share, up 6.9% from $2.88, yields…