Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, September 22, 2023

Article Excerpt

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, $120.19, Toronto symbol RY, is still a buy. Canada’s largest bank by market capitalization raised your quarterly dividend by 2.3% with the August 2023 payment. Investors now receive $1.35 a share instead of $1.32. The new annual rate of $5.40 yields a solid 4.5%. In November 2022, the bank agreed to pay $13.5 billion in cash for the Canadian operations of U.K.-based HSBC Holdings plc (New York symbol HSBC). To put that cost in context, Royal’s market cap (the total value of all outstanding shares) is $167.7 billion. HSBC operates 130 branches that mainly cater to businesses in industries that trade and bank internationally. It also provides banking and wealth management services to over 770,000 retail clients. In all, it has total assets of $134 billion. Canada’s Competition Bureau recently approved the acquisition. The deal still needs other approvals, but Royal expects to complete the transaction in early 2024. The purchase will cut Royal’s capitalization ratio (CET1, or Common Equity Tier 1,…