Reorganization strengthens these two buys

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES $65.64 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 371.9 million; Market cap: $24.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.8%; www.loblaw.ca) operates 1,085 supermarkets and 1,337 Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies across Canada. On November 1, 2018, Loblaw transferred its stake in Choice Properties REIT (symbol CHP.UN on Toronto) to its parent company George Weston Ltd. (see below). As a result, Weston now owns 65.4% of the REIT. As well, Loblaw investors hold 16.8% of Weston’s shares. Under the terms of the deal, Loblaw shareholders received 0.135 of a Weston common share for each L share they held. They will only pay capital gains taxes on their new Weston shares when they sell them. Loblaw has maintained its current annual dividend rate of $1.18 a share (which yields 1.8%). In addition, Weston raised its quarterly dividend by 5% to $0.515 a share. The new annual rate of $2.06 yields 2.2%. If you combine those two payments, the total of $1.46 a share represents a 23.7%…