Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, February 28, 2020

Article Excerpt

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, $99.82, Toronto symbol RY, is a buy for dividend-seeking investors. Royal is raising your quarterly dividend by 2.9%. Starting with the May 2020 payment, investors will receive $1.08 a share instead of $1.05. The new annual rate of $4.32 yields a high 4.3%. The bank reported better-than-expected earnings for its latest quarter, mainly on strong results at its capital markets operations. Investors also enjoyed better results from its retail banking and wealth management. In its fiscal 2020 first quarter, ended January 31, 2020, Royal earned $3.51 billion. That’s a gain of 10.6% from $3.17 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose at a faster rate of 11.6%, to $2.40 from $2.15. If you factor out unusual items, the bank earned $2.44 a share in the latest quarter. That beat the consensus estimate of $2.31. Earnings from retail banking (48% of the total) rose 7.3%, due to higher loan and deposit volumes as well as stronger demand…