Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, June 4, 2021

Article Excerpt

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK, $87.96, Toronto symbol TD, is a buy. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada’s banking regulator forced federally regulated lenders to suspend share buybacks and freeze their dividends. However, it will probably relax those restrictions in the next few months as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines should let more parts of the economy re-open. TD now announces dividend increases annually instead of two or more times per year. With the April 2020 payment, it increased the quarterly dividend by 6.8%, to $0.79 a share from $0.74. The new annual rate of $3.16 yields a solid 3.6%. The bank also continues to pull back funds it previously set aside to cover potential bad loans as a result of COVID-19. In its fiscal 2021 second quarter, ended April 30, 2021, TD posted a $377 million recovery of credit provisions compared to a charge of $3.22 billion a year earlier. As a result, earnings in the latest quarter soared 142.3%, to $3.71 billion from $1.53 billion…