manulife financial
Toronto symbol MFC, sells life and other forms of insurance, as well as mutual funds and investment management services. It operates in 19 countries and territories worldwide.
ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $19.21 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker; ca.ishares.com) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few we wouldn’t include, such as Yellow Media Inc. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 6.9%; TD Bank, 6.3%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.4%; Suncor Energy, 5.2%; Potash Corp., 4.1%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.9%; Barrick Gold, 3.9%; Goldcorp, 3.2%; CN Railway, 3.1%; Bank of Montreal, 3.1%; Manulife Financial, 2.6%; CIBC, 2.6%; BCE, 2.5%; TransCanada Corp., 2.5%; Cenovus Energy, 2.3%; and Teck Resources, 2.2%....
ISHARES MSCI CANADA INDEX FUND $31.84 (New York symbol EWC; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is like a market-cap-based index fund, but its managers try to improve performance by tinkering with the index-fund formula. They do this through their Morgan Stanley Capital International Canada Index. The fund has an MER of 0.50%. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 6.0%; TD Bank, 5.4%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.8%; Suncor Energy, 4.7%; Potash Corp., 3.6%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.4%; Barrick Gold, 3.4%; Goldcorp, 2.9%; Bank of Montreal, 2.6%; CN Railway, 2.6%; CIBC, 2.4%; Manulife Financial, 2.3%; TransCanada Corp., 2.3%; and Teck Resources, 2.2%. If you want to own a Canadian index fund, you should buy the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index Fund. You’ll pay about a third of the management fees....
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital-gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....
iShares S&P/TSX Capped Financials Index Fund, $24.56, symbol XFN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 42.4 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; ca.ishares.com), aims to mirror the performance of the S&P/TSX Capped Financials Index, which is made up of the largest-capitalization financial-sector stocks on the Toronto exchange. The fund currently holds 26 stocks. The weight of any one company is capped at 25% of the index’s market capitalization, regardless of how big the stock is in relation to the index. The fund’s MER is 0.55%. It yields 5.0%. The fund’s top holdings are Royal Bank of Canada at 20.5%; TD Bank, 17.3%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 14.9%; Bank of Montreal, 8.5%; CIBC, 7.7%; Manulife Financial, 7.3%; Sun Life Financial, 4.13%; National Bank, 3.1%; Power Corporation, 2.3% and Fairfax Financial Holdings, 1.8%....
Brompton Equity Split Corp., $12.97, symbol BE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 1.7 million; Market cap: $21.9 million; www.bromptongroup.com) mainly invests in large-cap Canadian stocks. The fund was scheduled to wind up on May 31, 2011. However, it now plans to merge with Dividend Growth Split Corp., $9.21, symbol DGS on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 4.3 million; Market cap: $40.0 million; www.bromptongroup.com), on May 18, 2011. The new Dividend Growth Split Corp., symbol DGS on Toronto, will have a termination date of November 30, 2019....
Dividend 15 Split Corp., $12.30, symbol DFN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 13.6 million; Market cap: $167.3 million; www.dividend15.com), is a split-share investment corporation that holds shares of 15 companies: BCE Inc., CI Financial Corporation, Bank of Nova Scotia, Thomson Reuters, National Bank of Canada, TransAlta Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, TransCanada Corporation, Manulife Financial, TD Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, Telus Corporation and Enbridge. The company can also invest up to 15% of its portfolio in other stocks. Dividend 15 Split Corp. has two share classes: Dividend 15 Split Corp. capital shares (Toronto symbol DFN), and Dividend 15 Split Corp. preferred shares (Toronto symbol DFN.PR.A)....
ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $20.44 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker; ca.ishares.com) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few we wouldn’t include, such as Yellow Media Inc. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 6.7%; Suncor Energy, 5.9%; TD Bank, 5.8%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.3%; Canadian Natural Resources, 4.4%; Barrick Gold, 4.3%; Potash Corp., 4.2%; Goldcorp, 3.1%; Bank of Montreal, 2.9%; CN Railway, 2.7%; Manulife Financial, 2.7%; CIBC, 2.7%; Research in Motion, 2.5%; and Cenovus Energy, 2.3%....
ISHARES MSCI CANADA INDEX FUND $33.63 (New York symbol EWC; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is like a market-cap-based index fund, but its managers try to improve performance by tinkering with the index-fund formula. They do this through their Morgan Stanley Capital International Canada Index. The fund has an MER of 0.50%. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 5.8%; TD Bank, 5.0%; Suncor Energy, 5.0%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.4%; Potash Corp., 4.0%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.7%; Barrick Gold, 3.6%; Teck Resources, 2.7%; Bank of Montreal, 2.5%; Goldcorp, 2.4%; CN Railway, 2.4%; Manulife Financial, 2.4%; CIBC, 2.3% and Research in Motion, 2.2%. If you want to own a Canadian index fund, you should buy the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index Fund. You’ll pay about a third of the management fees....
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital-gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....
The Data Group Income Fund, $6.45, symbol DGI.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 23.5 million; Market cap: $151.5 million; www.datagroup.ca), sells commercial-printing and related services to a variety of customers, including Canada Post, Bell Canada, Manulife Financial Corp., Bank of Montreal, Imperial Oil, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. and British Columbia Lottery Corp. By outsourcing their printing needs to Data Group, the fund’s clients can focus on their main businesses and improve their efficiency. Data Group has three divisions:...