The Growing Power of Dividends

Learn everything you need to know in '7 Winning Strategies for Dividend Investors' for FREE from The Successful Investor.

The Best Canadian Dividend Stocks to Buy: REITS Canada and other Top Canadian Dividend Stocks.

 I consent to receiving information from The Successful Investor via email. I understand I can unsubscribe from these updates at any time.

Topic: Dividend Stocks

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $79 – Toronto symbol RY

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $79 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $110.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s second-largest bank, with $895.9 billion of assets.

Royal recently completed the sale of its moneylosing Jamaican operations, which included 13 branches. The bank will record a one-time loss of $97 million on the deal, up from its earlier estimate of a $60-million loss.

Meanwhile, Royal earned $2.2 billion in the quarter ended April 30, 2014, up 15.3% from $1.9 billion a year ago. Per-share earnings rose 17.6%, to $1.47 from $1.25, on fewer shares outstanding.

Overall revenue gained 7.2%, to $8.3 billion from $7.7 billion. Revenue at Royal’s retail banking division (which supplied 40% of the total) gained 5.1%, thanks to stronger loan demand in Canada. The lower Canadian dollar also improved the results of its U.S. and Caribbean operations.

Revenue from securities trading (22%) jumped 19.8% on higher trading volumes. This business also benefited from increased merger and acquisition activity in the U.S. and Asia.

The bank’s wealth management division (19%) saw its revenue rise 15.5%, mainly because increasing stock prices pushed up the value of its assets under administration.

Insurance revenue (13%) fell 9.7%, due to losses on the division’s investment portfolio. The investor and treasury services business’s revenue (6%) rose 5.3%, mainly due to the positive impact of foreign exchange rates.

The bank’s loan-loss provisions fell 15.0% in the latest quarter, to $244 million from $287 million.

The stock trades at 13.2 times the bank’s likely 2014 earnings of $5.98 a share. The $2.84 dividend yields 3.6%.

Royal Bank is a buy.

Comments

Tell Us What YOU Think

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Please be respectful with your comments and help us keep this an area that everyone can enjoy. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Terms of Use, please click here to report it to the administrator.