Expect more TD rewards

Article Excerpt

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $101 is a buy. The lender (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $181.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) is rewarding investors now that Canada’s banking regulator has lifted the restrictions on dividends and share buybacks that were imposed due to COVID-19 economic concerns. As a result, TD will now raise your dividend by 12.7%. Starting with the January 31, 2022, payment, investors will receive $0.89 a share instead of $0.79. The new annual rate of $3.56 yields 3.5%. The bank also plans to buy back up to 2.7% of its common shares by January 10, 2023. Moreover, TD’s CET1 ratio was a solid 15.19% as of October 31, 2021, which is well above the 10.5% regulatory minimum. (CET1, or Common Equity Tier 1, measures a bank’s ability to keep extending credit to individuals and businesses.) The bank may use some of that excess capital for acquisitions,…