Your post-COVID income should stay strong

Article Excerpt

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is easing and restaurants are re-opening, we expect many consumers will continue to eat most of their meals at home. As well, it’s likely that more of them will embrace online ordering and home delivery. Those trends should continue to fuel Metro’s share price—and your dividend. METRO INC. $66 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol MRU; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding 240.9 million; Market cap: $15.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.metro.ca) operates 963 grocery stores and 649 drugstores, in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. With the March 2022 payment, Metro will raise your quarterly dividend by 10.0%. Investors will receive $0.275 a share instead of $0.25. The new annual rate of $1.10 yields 1.7%. The company has now increased the annual dividend rate each year for the past 28 years. Metro also aims to buy back roughly 3% of its outstanding shares by November 2022. The company’s sales rose 38.7%, from $13.18 billion in…