Investment Q&A

Q: National Bank Financial did the same thing to me. I had 85 shares and was only given 42 shares,
I have told my advisor.
What are the next steps?

Q: There have been a number of questions/comments concerning the recent 3 for 2 stock split of BEPC and BEP.UN and how fractional shares are handled. I reached out to TD Waterhouse and their response may be of interest to your members:

"When we received payment from a Split we as a Broker receive payment on our one bulk position. We do not get paid for each client individually. If the client had a physical certificate or held shares directly with the Transfer Agent in their name only than yes they would have rounded up but the company says for "Registered Holders". The shares in the clients account are registered "TD Waterhouse ITF the client" so when we get paid we get one payment for all our clients because all of our clients shares are registered the same way TD Waterhouse ITF. But the client will get some cash for the fractional shares. The CIL usually comes in about 10 bus days after the Re-Org was processed. "

I would assume the same would be true for all online brokers.

Hope this is helpful
Cheers
Scott

Q: Hello, this is in regard of Roy’s comment about the share splits of BEP.UN. I had the exact same situation with a calculated odd number of shares. In my case it has not been rounded up, so I phoned my online broker and they told me that the 0.5 missing share of BEP.UN would be paid in cash. I just check my account and an amount of $24.95 has been deposited. Gervais

Q: Holders of the above shares I would like to draw your attention to a quote from the notice of share splits . Quote “Any fractional units/shares to be issued to registered holders as a result of the unit/share splits WILL be rounded up to the nearest whole unit/share” unquote. One could quibble over the words WILL and SHALL.
If you have an even number of shares of the above , your account should show the correct number of shares after the split.
However if you have an odd number of shares you might want to check that the rounding up has been done. For example if you held 201 shares of either of the above you should now have 302.
Calculation:
201 x 1.5 = 301.5 , rounded up gives you 302 shares.
If this isn’t happening for you, you should contact your dealer. Thousands of half shares can amount to a lot of missing shares.
Roy

Q: BEP's recent share split announcement indicated, if I read it correctly, that any fractional shares resulting from the split would be rounded up to the nearest whole share. I owned, pre-split, an odd number of shares. My broker rounded down, and I think I've been cheated out of a share. Is my understanding correct and do I have grounds to go after the broker? Not a huge amount on an individual basis, but if a broker does it to hundreds or even thousands of investors . . .

Q: Hi, I’ve read your comments about BEP and BEPC. I understand a bit of correction and consolidation but a 30% drop in one day seems excessive. Surely something else must be affecting this and if not how can one possibly invest in a stock that can drop 30% in one day without a reason? I get risk but that seems absurd to me, especially for a Brookfield security.

Q: Hi,
In a recent question from Jacques about renewable energy, you respond:
We would suggest; BEP.UN, AQN, BLX, NPI
Where does FTS fit in this list?
I own BEP.UN and FTS and considering selling FTS and replace with any of the other 3. Would you agree with such a move? What would be your ranking of these 5 companies in order?
Thanks

Q: Hi group bought MLM Nov 9th so far its down 2% and not acting particularly well. Do you still like it longer term ? also bought BEP (down 6%) same time. These stocks were bought to ride on Joe Biden winning the US election with a bet on a healthy infrastructure spending. Do you still like them both seem to be laggards Thanks for you guidance on this PS they are both full positions

Q: Hi,

I have no utilities exposure at the moment. Looking or a Company with a nice yield that has part of their business in renewables since this is a trend going forward. I will also hold this name outside of my RRSP and TFSA for dividend distribution is ideal rather than other forms of return on investment. I am thinking of a 4% position given record low interest rates and the fact they MAY rise sometime in 2022 or beyond. My questions are: 1- Do you think 4% is a good weighting for the utility sector given current environment? 2- Which is your preferred name among these 3? I am leaning towards AQN for dividend level and the fact that it is paid as a dividend as well as the fact that some of the business is in renewables and they have a nice growth profile.

Thank you so much,
Jason

Q: Yesterday I sold BEPC in my RRSP as the stock had a huge run. Now I am underweight in Utilities. Is it a good idea to buy BEP.UN now as a replacement now or wait for the price to go down. Would you recommend XUT ETF instead? Currently own small position of AQN in utilities. Sincerely appreciate your opinion.

Q: Hi still hold all 4 of these stocks but would like to consolidate them, the BIP shares are in an RRSP of BEP in a non-registered account which is more income oriented. I am mainly concerned with which have more growth.
Thx
Nancy

Q: Hi Peter/Ryan, in one of your answers you said that these two were essentially the same company. Is it then not wise to keep them both in an RRSP and therefore should one be removed or replaced. Thanks

Q: Hi there,
Brookfield Renewable has tumbled faster and farther in the last week or so than at any point since March. Is there a sector reason behind this (ie fears of rising rates) or is it company related?

Q: A recent question was asked to explain the difference between BEP.UN and BEPC. In you answer you stated that in a registered account BEP.UN gets a higher yield, but the tax credit is lost. Could you please explain 1) why BEP.UN would get a higher yield in a registered account and 2) the tax credit being lost, are you referring to the tax dividend credit. Thanks … Cal

Q: I have done well with BEP/BEPC - in a non-registered account - and am now overweight (combined 8.4%). Love the growth and solid dividend. My choices now are: 1) Hold the course 2) Reduce to 5%, take the tax hit, and purchase a stock with similar attributes to BEP/BEPC i.e. stable dividend >1.5% and strong growth prospects.

Would you choose option 1 or 2? And if 2, would TRI be a good candidate? Other candidates you might suggest? (Already own WSP, AQN, BAM, FTS, MSI, NPI, PBH, SIS, T and X.) Thank you.

Q: I am heavily weighted in Brookfield right now (BPY, BEP, BEPC)– across all my accounts they are at 15% of my holdings, largely due to the great run BEP as been on. I'm looking re-balance and am considering two choices: (1) I could dump my entire BPY stock (I'm down roughly 20%) which would reducing my overall Brookfield holdings by 4%, or (2) I could take some profit from BEP to do the same, leaving BPY in the hopes I recover some of that loss.

Which would you recommend?

Q: Hi team,
I am wondering what the difference is between BEP and BEPC. Also, which of the two would you prefer as a play on renewable energy

thanks
Paula

Q: Hi Team:

I just noticed the book value of my BEP.un dropped a lot from August, is it because the free BEPC given to share holders´É. Also, the description of the free shares says non-taxable. Will appreciate your explanation.

Thank you.
LL

Q: I have no utilities exposure. I want to add 1 Company. I was looking at Fortis because I believe they are your favourite given their size and history of dividend increases. They currently are mostly electricity delivery (<90%) with some renewables and fossil fuel. By 2035 they expect to increase renewables from 2% to 7%. That seems like a long time for such a small increase. They are eliminating their fossil fuel generation. If I prefer to invest in a utility with more of a focus on renewables, would AQN or BEP.UN be a better bet. Shouldn't they do better as renewables become 'trendier'? Which do you prefer out of AQN and BEP.UN. BEP.UN has had quite a run recently.

Q: I own shares of Brookfield Renewable Corporation (BEPC) and it just continues to defy gravity and move straight up. This has me thinking that an equity raise might be coming anytime now. What do you think the chances are that they do a share issue before the end of the year? Have they already filed a shelf prospectus?

You mentioned in a previous response that if they were to issue shares it would likely be the corporate shares and not the partnership, implying that this might reduce the current premium on the corporate shares. Can you explain why? Wouldn’t the partnership shares suffer the same earnings dilution if they issue corporate shares?

I own the corporate shares in my non-registered account. Would it make sense to sell them from that account and repurchase the partnership shares in my RRSP? I would incur a taxable gain but I already have carried over loses that I can use to offset. In addition I think that there is a possibility that the Government might soon spring a capital gains tax increase upon us (just one more reason to crystalize the gain now).

I couple of question so please deduct credits as you see fit.