Updating our Income stocks: BMO, Scotiabank & Telus

Article Excerpt

BANK OF MONTREAL $128 (www.bmo.com) is a buy. The bank raised your quarterly dividend with the January 2024 payment by 2.7%, to $1.51 a share from $1.47. The new annual rate of $6.04 yields a high 4.7%. Bank of Montreal aims to pay out between 40% and 50% of its earnings before unusual items as dividends. In the fiscal year ended October 31, 2023, the payout ratio was 49.4%. The stock also trades at an attractive 11.3 times the $11.32 a share that the bank will probably earn in fiscal 2024. Bank of Montreal is a buy. BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $66 (www.scotiabankcom) is a buy. The bank is shifting its business away from poorly performing Latin American markets to its main markets of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. That should lift its forecast earnings from $6.56 a share in the fiscal year ending October 31, 2024, to $7.05 in 2025. The stock trades at just 9.4 times that 2025 estimate. Bank of Nova Scotia is a buy. TELUS CORP…