Look for these bank dividends to rise again: Royal Bank and TD Bank

Article Excerpt

Canada’s banking regulator is now starting to unwind the special conditions it placed on banks and other lenders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those moves, along with falling loan-loss provisions, should let these two banks resume regular dividend increases later this year. ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $116 is a buy. Canada’s largest bank (Toronto symbol RY; Income-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio; Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $162.4 billion; Dividend yield: 3.7%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.rbc.com) last raised your quarterly dividend with the May 2020 payment. Investors now receive $1.08 a share, up 2.9% from $1.05. The new annual rate of $4.32 yields a high 3.7%. As the economy started to rebound from COVID-19, Royal set aside $110 million to cover future loan losses in its fiscal 2021 first quarter, ended January 31, 2021. That’s down 73.7% from $419 million a year earlier. The latest provisions are also much better than the $427 million it booked in the fourth quarter. As a result, the…