This financial family offers high yields

Article Excerpt

POWER CORP. $32 (Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 414.9 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; Dividend yield: 4.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.powercorporation. com) is a diversified holding company. It gets most of its income from its 65.6% stake in Power Financial (Toronto symbol PWF). In turn, Power Financial’s assets include 67.6% of GreatWest Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers; and 61.5% of IGM Financial (see below), 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. With the June 2016 payment, Power Corp. raised its quarterly dividend by 7.6%, to $0.335 a share from $0.31125. The new annual rate of $1.34 yields a high 4.2%. Power Corp.’s earnings per share fell 23.8%, to $2.59 in 2016 from $3.40 in 2015. The decline is mainly due to a 6.1% decline in its income from Power Financial. The stock now trades…