Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 1,402 Shares of The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,668 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,402 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TD. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 24.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 13,509,261 shares of the bank’s stock worth $854,815,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689,532 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 61.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 6,011,579 shares of the bank’s stock worth $380,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,864 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 175.5% in the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 2,467,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $156,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571,700 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 64.6% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,273,520 shares of the bank’s stock worth $143,922,000 after purchasing an additional 892,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 5.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 16,515,643 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,046,825,000 after purchasing an additional 853,313 shares during the last quarter. 52.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on TD. Scotiabank cut Toronto-Dominion Bank from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Desjardins cut Toronto-Dominion Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.50.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Price Performance

TD stock opened at $59.91 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $55.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.43. The Toronto-Dominion Bank has a 52-week low of $51.25 and a 52-week high of $64.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.7482 per share. This represents a $2.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. This is a positive change from Toronto-Dominion Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Toronto-Dominion Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.15%.

About Toronto-Dominion Bank

The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, U.S. Retail, Wealth Management and Insurance, and Wholesale Banking.