Top assets pay dividends

Article Excerpt

POWER CORP. $28.82 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 414.4 million; Market cap: $13.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www. powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through its 65.6%-owned Power Financial. In the quarter ended March 31, 2017, Power Corp.’s earnings per share rose 41.5%, to $0.58 from $0.41 a year earlier. Power Financial’s assets include: 67.6% of Great-West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers; and 61.5% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual-fund provider. Through its 50% stake in Parjointco, Power Financial also holds 55.5% of Swiss-listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in seven large European firms. Power Corp. raised its quarterly dividend by 7.0% with the June 2017 payment. The shares now yield a high 5.0%. Power Corp. is a buy. buy…