Updating Our High-Growth Payers: Intact Financial Corp.

Article Excerpt

INTACT FINANCIAL CORP. $143 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol IFC; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 143.0 million; Market cap: $20.4 billion; Dividend yield: 2.3%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.intactfc.com) gives you exposure to Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance. Intact insures more than five million individuals and businesses. Its major brands are Intact Insurance, Canada BrokerLink and belairdirect. The company last raised your quarterly dividend with the March 2020 payment. Investors now receive $0.83 a share, up 9.6% from $0.76. The new annual rate of $3.32 yields 2.3%. In a bid to add value for investors, Intact acquired OneBeacon Insurance Group for $1.7 billion U.S. in September 2017. OneBeacon represents Intact’s entry into the U.S. market to drive future growth. More recently, Intact acquired two specialty insurance firms—The Guarantee Co. of North America and Frank Cowan Co. Ltd.—for a total of $1.02 billion. Expanding by acquisition adds risk, but specialty insurance policies generally carry higher premiums. In Canada, Intact has…