National Bank Raises Dividend 5% Despite Lower Q4 Profit

National Bank of Canada (NA) has announced that it is raising its quarterly dividend payment by 5% despite reporting reduced profits for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Going forward, the Montreal-based lender said it will pay a quarterly dividend to shareholders of $0.97 a share, up five cents from $0.92 previously.

National Bank reported fiscal Q4 earnings of $738 million, or $2.08 per share for the period ended October 31, down 4% from $769 million or $2.17 per share in the year earlier quarter.

The bank attributed the reduced profit to a 14% decline in financial market income compared with the same period of 2021. That was due largely to trading revenue losses.

Money set aside to cover bad loans and credit losses totalled $87 million in the latest quarter compared with a recovery of $41 million a year ago.

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Analysts who cover National Bank had forecast a profit of $2.24 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

For its full year, National Bank said its overall profit amounted to $3.38 billion or $9.61 per share on $9.65 billion in revenue compared with a profit of $3.14 billion or $8.85 per share on $8.93 billion in revenue during 2021.

National Bank’s stock is down 3% this year and trading at $95.93 per share.