Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 294 Shares of The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,819 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 294 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank were worth $376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,134,868 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,039,691,000 after buying an additional 2,870,662 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 37.0% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 8,996,955 shares of the bank’s stock worth $544,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431,743 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,384,265 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,361,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,730 shares during the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank during the 4th quarter worth $49,752,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 4,338,785 shares of the bank’s stock worth $262,121,000 after buying an additional 497,233 shares during the last quarter. 52.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Trading Down 5.9 %

NYSE:TD opened at $54.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $96.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.85. The Toronto-Dominion Bank has a 1 year low of $54.12 and a 1 year high of $66.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.06.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The bank reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.05. Toronto-Dominion Bank had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 11.16%. The business had revenue of $10.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. As a group, analysts expect that The Toronto-Dominion Bank will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th were issued a $0.7519 dividend. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. This is an increase from Toronto-Dominion Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 8th. Toronto-Dominion Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on TD. Scotiabank raised shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Toronto-Dominion Bank in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.33.

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.