royal bank

ING Group NV (ADR), $11.70, symbol ING on New York (ADRs outstanding: 3.9 billion; Market cap: $44.2 billion; www.ing.com), is a global financial institution that offers banking, insurance and asset management to approximately 75 million clients in Europe, the U.S., Latin America, Asia and Australia. The bank is in the final stages of selling off its insurance businesses. This is part of a broad restructuring effort that ING began after it received a Dutch government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis. Last year, ING sold its remaining shares in U.S. insurer Voya Financial. It still has a stake of around 14% in Dutch insurer NN Group NV. ING’s outlook is positive, especially in its core Dutch market. The Dutch economy is improving following a lengthy crisis in 2012 and 2013—the housing market is up and disposable incomes are rising....

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $66 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $99.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 4.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is selling its RBC General Insurance subsidiary to Aviva Canada. This business mainly sells home and auto insurance. As part of the sale, Royal’s customers can also access all of Aviva’s insurance products for the next 15 years. The sale makes sense, as regulators prevent Canadian banks from selling insurance policies through their branches. That limits Royal’s ability to expand this business. However, the bank will continue to sell life and health insurance through separate offices and online....

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $66 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $99.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 4.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is selling its RBC General Insurance subsidiary to Aviva Canada. This business mainly sells home and auto insurance. As part of the sale, Royal’s customers can also access all of Aviva’s insurance products for the next 15 years. The sale makes sense, as regulators prevent Canadian banks from selling insurance policies through their branches. That limits Royal’s ability to expand this business. However, the bank will continue to sell life and health insurance through separate offices and online....

ISHARES CANADIAN SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX ETF $20.37 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds 30 of the highestyielding Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10% of the ETF’s assets. The fund’s MER is 0.55%, and it yields 5.0%. Its top holdings are CIBC, 9.7%; Bank of Montreal, 7.4%; Royal Bank, 6.8%; BCE, 6.5%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.6%; Rogers Communications, 5.2%; Laurentian Bank of Canada, 5.0%; Manitoba Telecom, 5.0%; TD Bank, 4.7%; IGM Financial, 4.4%; and TransCanada Corp., 4.4%. The ETF holds 58.6% of its assets in financial stocks. The top Canadian finance stocks have sound prospects, but if you invest in this ETF, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so it won’t be overly concentrated in the financial sector....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $18.65 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; 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. The ETF’s MER is just 0.18% of assets, and the units yield 3.2%. The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.7%; TD Bank, 8.0%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.6%; CN Railway, 4.8%; BCE, 4.0%; Bank of Montreal, 3.9%; Suncor Energy, 3.8%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 3.5%; Enbridge Inc., 3.3%; and Manulife Financial Corp., 3.1%....

We feel that investors will profit the most by holding a well-balanced portfolio of high-quality stocks. However, if you don’t want to build a portfolio, or you want to supplement your individual stock holdings, then ETFs can provide a great alternative. The main factors we use to evaluate ETFs are the stocks they hold, the diversification of their holdings across the five economic sectors and the fees (MERs) they charge. In general, investors holding mainly ETFs would want, say, 60% in Canadian ETFs and 20% to 30% in U.S. ETFs....

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $75 (www.rbc.com) earned $9.9 billion in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2015, up 8.6% from $9.1 billion in fiscal 2014. Earnings per share gained 9.4%, to $6.66 from $6.09, on fewer shares outstanding....

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $75 (www.rbc.com) earned $9.9 billion in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2015, up 8.6% from $9.1 billion in fiscal 2014. Earnings per share gained 9.4%, to $6.66 from $6.09, on fewer shares outstanding. Strong gains at its retail banking, securities trading and custodial operations offset weaker results at the wealth management and insurance operations....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $20.99 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; 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.

The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.3%; TD Bank, 7.3%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.7%; CN Railway, 4.7%; Suncor Energy, 3.9%; Bank of Montreal, 3.8%; Valeant Pharmaceuiticals, 3.8%; Enbridge, 3.7%; BCE, 3.2%; Manulife Financial, 2.9%; TransCanada Corp., 2.9%; CIBC, 2.9%; Canadian Natural Resources, 2.8%; CP Rail, 2.5%; and Potash Corp., 2.5%.

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