Toronto Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) Upgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Toronto Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

TD has been the subject of several other reports. National Bank Financial raised Toronto Dominion Bank from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Toronto Dominion Bank in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered shares of Toronto Dominion Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Toronto Dominion Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Toronto Dominion Bank to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Toronto Dominion Bank has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.00.

Toronto Dominion Bank Price Performance

TD stock traded up $0.58 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $96.39. 120,513 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,475,051. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.56. Toronto Dominion Bank has a 52-week low of $54.87 and a 52-week high of $99.04. The company has a market cap of $161.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.44, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.67.

Toronto Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The bank reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $11.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.10 billion. Toronto Dominion Bank had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 13.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Toronto Dominion Bank will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toronto Dominion Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a $1.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Toronto Dominion Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Toronto Dominion Bank’s payout ratio is currently 37.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toronto Dominion Bank

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Toronto Dominion Bank by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,252,688 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,280,911,000 after acquiring an additional 765,107 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 37,612,007 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,008,096,000 after purchasing an additional 246,999 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank during the fourth quarter worth $2,125,963,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank by 0.5% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 22,548,848 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,656,213,000 after purchasing an additional 101,678 shares during the period. Finally, Canerector Inc. grew its position in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank by 11,028.0% in the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 22,256,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,779,367,000 after purchasing an additional 22,056,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.37% of the company’s stock.

About Toronto Dominion Bank

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Formed through the 1955 merger of the Bank of Toronto (founded 1855) and the Dominion Bank (founded 1869), TD is one of Canada’s largest banks and offers a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial and institutional clients.

TD’s core businesses include Canadian and U.S. personal and commercial banking, wealth management, wholesale banking and insurance.