Updating your Income stocks: Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Great-West Lifeco

Article Excerpt

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $108 (www.rbc.com) is a buy. Starting with the November 2019 payment, investors receive a quarterly dividend of $1.05 a share, up 2.9% from $1.02. The $4.20 annual rate yields a high 4.0%. Its earnings will likely improve from $8.96 a share in the fiscal year ended October 31, 2019, to $9.39 in 2020. The stock trades at just 11.5 times the 2020 estimate. That’s relatively cheap for your new buying. TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $76 (www.td.com) is also a buy. TD owns about 42% of TD Ameritrade Holding (Nasdaq symbol AMTD), one of the largest online brokerage firms in the U.S. That investment should contribute $301 million to TD’s earnings in its latest quarter, up 16.2% from $259 million a year earlier. TD Ameritrade’s chief competitor, Charles Schawb Corp. (New York symbol SCHW), has now eliminated commissions for buying and selling stocks, ETFs and options. In response, TD Ameritrade matched that policy, which will hurt its earnings. However, TD may take advantage of…