asset management

BANK OF MONTREAL, $146.32, Toronto symbol BMO, is still a buy.

With the February 2025 payment, the bank will raise your quarterly dividend by 2.6%, to $1.59 a share from $1.55. The new annual rate of $6.36 yields a high 4.3%. Bank of Montreal also announced a new plan to buy back up to 20 million of its common shares (2.7% of the total outstanding).

On February 1, 2023, the bank completed its acquisition of Bank of the West from France’s BNP Paribas for $13.8 billion U.S

Bank of the West provides a variety of retail and commercial banking services to over 1.8 million customers in 24 U.S....

BOMBARDIER INC., Toronto symbols BBD.A $96.77 and BBD.B $96.77, is still a hold for aggressive investors.

The company now focuses solely on making private luxury and business jet planes following the sale of its passenger railcar business to France’s Alstom SA in January 2021.

The stock fell 7% this week after U.S....

MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. is a hold. The brewer (Toronto symbols TPX.A $89 and TPX.B $87; Conservative Growth Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 206.0 million; Market cap: $17.9 billion; Dividend yield: 2.9%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.molsoncoors.com) last raised your quarterly dividend with the March 2024 payment by 7.3%, to $0.44 U.S....

Fee income at these two firms rises and falls with the value of the mutual funds and other securities they manage. Today’s rising stock market has pushed up their earnings, at the same time it helps to support their high yields.


IGM FINANCIAL INC....

Insurer Great-West Lifeco and mutual funds provider IGM Financial continue to benefit from their recent moves to focus on their core businesses. We still like both, but prefer IGM for your new buying.


GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $48 is a hold. The insurer (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 931.2 million; Market cap: $44.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest life insurer, after Manulife Financial....

The shares of IGM Financial are up over 20% since the start of 2024, as rising stock market values have lifted the fee income it earns on the assets under its management. The company’s outlook remains bright, as more baby boomers will turn to professional advisors as they retire....

Often-overlooked Trisura Group is up a whopping 647.2% since its spinoff from Brookfield and its earnings just shot up a solid 16.1% in the most-recent quarter. It’s a top pick.

Specialized insurer Trisura took its current form on June 22, 2017, when Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (now Brookfield Corp.) spun off its specialty insurance business as Trisura. Investors received one Trisura share for every 170 Brookfield shares they held.


Since then, the stock has soared over 510%, for two main reasons: First, as a spinoff, it will likely outperform other classes of similar stocks....

IGM Financial Inc. offers a high 5.9% yield from an expanding asset base with rising revenues -- the stock remains cheap at just 10.0 times forecast earnings.

These two subsidiaries of the Power Corp. holding company are now realizing the benefits of a new plan to better focus on their core areas of expertise. We like both but still prefer IGM for your new buying.


GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $42 is a hold. The company (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 932.1 million; Market cap: $39.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 5.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest life insurer, after Manulife Financial....