Updating your Conservative-Growth Payers: Power Corp. of Canada

Article Excerpt

POWER CORP. OF CANADA $39 is a buy. The conglomerate (Toronto symbol POW; Conservative-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 649.2 million; Market cap: $25.3 billion; Dividend yield: 5.8%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.powercorporation.com) holds controlling stakes in Canadian financial services firms Great-West Lifeco (insurance) and IGM Financial (mutual funds). It also owns 15.5% of the Belgian holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. With the May 2024 payment, the company raised your quarterly dividend by 7.1%, to $0.5625 a share from $0.525. The new annual rate of $2.25 yields a high 5.8%. The company’s sustainable investing arm recently announced that it would close its office in Shanghai as part of its decision to wind down its Power Sustainable China fund. The fund had approximately $715 million in assets at the end of 2023. Despite this exit, Power remains invested in China through IGM Financial’s 27.8% investment in China Asset Management Company, one of the country’s largest mutual fund managers. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $727…