Toronto Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Toronto Dominion Bank (The) (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $128.00 and last traded at $126.9530, with a volume of 65,045 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $124.74.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on Toronto Dominion Bank in a research report on Friday, August 21st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised Toronto Dominion Bank from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Toronto Dominion Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.00.

Toronto Dominion Bank Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $121.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.08. The company has a market capitalization of $200.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Toronto Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $12.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.70 billion. Toronto Dominion Bank had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 14.88%. Toronto Dominion Bank’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Toronto Dominion Bank will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Toronto Dominion Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a dividend of C$1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Toronto Dominion Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.66%.

Toronto Dominion Bank declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, September 30th that permits the company to buy back $7.14 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toronto Dominion Bank

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank during the second quarter worth $202,900,000. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank during the first quarter worth $139,123,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Toronto Dominion Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at $74,503,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Toronto Dominion Bank by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,565,982 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $705,950,000 after acquiring an additional 589,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in Toronto Dominion Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,808,000. 52.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Toronto Dominion Bank

The Toronto-Dominion Bank, commonly known as TD Bank Group, is a Canadian financial services company serving personal, business, corporate and institutional clients. Its services include everyday banking, deposits, mortgages and other lending, credit cards, wealth management, insurance and capital markets services.

TD operates primarily in Canada and the United States through businesses that include TD Canada Trust, TD Bank and TD Securities. It also provides investment and wealth-management services through its TD Wealth businesses.

The bank traces its history to the Bank of Toronto, founded in 1855.