Each of these is a buy for consumer gains

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LOBLAW COMPANIES $62.07 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 375.3 million; Market cap: $23.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.7%; www.loblaw.ca) operates 1,082 supermarkets and 1,335 Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies across Canada. On November 1, 2018, Loblaw transferred its stake in Choice Properties REIT (see page 90) to its parent company George Weston Ltd. (see below). Under the terms of the deal, Loblaw shareholders received 0.135 of a Weston common share for each Loblaw share they held. They will only pay capital gains taxes on their new Weston shares when they sell them. As a result of the transfer, Weston now owns 65.4% of the REIT. As well, Loblaw shareholders hold 16.8% of Weston’s shares. Loblaw plans to maintain its current annual dividend rate of $1.18 a share (which yields 2.0%). In addition, Weston will raise its quarterly dividend by 5% to $0.515 a share. The new annual rate of $2.06 yields 2.1%. If you combine those two payments, the total of $1.46 a..