Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 27

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 27. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week AGCO (AGCO): now $0.14 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.13. Air Products and Chemicals (APD): now $0.95 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.86. ALLETE (ALE): now $0.535 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.52. Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT): now $0.29 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.28. Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG): now $0.39 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.38. Bank First National (BFNC): now $0.16 per share quarterly … Read more

Nutrien Benefiting from the Strong Global Farm Economy, Shares Yield ~2.5%

Image Source: Nutrien Limited – 2020 Annual Report Executive Summary: Nutrien Limited is benefiting from the strong global farm economy. The company sells tens of millions of metric tons of potash, nitrogen, and phosphate products every year, which are key ingredients used in the production of fertilizer. With geopolitical tensions building in Eastern Europe, Nutrien is preparing to bring idle potash production capacity in Canada back online while steadily expanding its nitrogen production capabilities. Nutrien is a great free cash flow generator with a promising growth outlook, though its net debt load is rather large. The firm is focusing on deleveraging activities in the near term, which we appreciate. Shares of NTR yield ~2.5% as of this writing, and we think … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of January 27

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending January 27. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week                Air Products and Chemicals (APD): now $1.75 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.62. Alliant Energy (LNT): now $0.4525 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.4275. American Express (AXP): now $0.60 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.52. Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT): now $0.35 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.34. Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM): now $0.45 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.40. Archrock (AROC): now $0.15 per share quarterly dividend, … Read more

Top Research and Ideas You May Have Missed

Is Quant Value Giving Intrinsic Value Investors a Bad Name? Surely, you don’t believe Warren Buffett’s “style” is out of favor? By Brian Nelson, CFA I need to make sure that you’re aware of something very important. The media and perhaps many investment professionals define the concept of “value” as companies with low price-to-book (P/B) ratios, and the concept of “growth” as companies with high price-to-book ratios. This definition of “value” and “growth” and their corresponding returns have been magnified in writings throughout the media and across quantitative research, even in prestigious journals. Warren Buffett has been rallying against most quantitative applications and how “growth” and “value” are defined in popular media and quantitative research for decades.  Here’s one of the Oracle’s most … Read more

US Congress Is Getting Ready to Pass a Massive ~$2.2 Trillion Fiscal Stimulus Bill

Image Shown: US equities have started to recover some of their lost ground as the likelihood that the US Congress will pass a massive ~$2.2 trillion fiscal stimulus and emergency spending package, dubbed the CARES Act, has increased significantly over the past week as seen through the bounce in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). President Trump has clearly indicated that he intends to sign such a bill into law as soon as possible, with the US House of Representatives expected to take up the legislation this upcoming Friday morning on March 27. By Callum Turcan On March 25, the US Senate worked late into the night to secure a bipartisan compromise on a massive ~$2.2 trillion fiscal stimulus … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week February 4

Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 4. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Air Products and Chemicals (APD): now $1.62 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.50. Allegion (ALLE): now $0.41 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.36. ALLETE (ALE): now $0.65 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.63. Artisan Partners Asset Management (APAM): now $1.03 per share variable quarterly dividend, was $1.00. AudioCodes (AUDC): now $0.18 per share semi-annual dividend, was $0.17. Bank of Botetourt (BORT): now $0.185 per share quarterly … Read more

The Dividend Cushion Ratio: Unadjusted Is Less Subjective, Adjusted Is More Subjective

  Image Source: Mike Lawrence Question: I’m a subscriber. I’m looking at your Dividend Report for Enterprise Product Partners (EPD). It says your Valuentum Adjusted Dividend Cushion ratio for EPD is 1.8 (a ratio that includes future expected proceeds from capital raising endeavors in the coming years), but several lines below it says the Unadjusted Dividend Cushion ratio, which is your regular normal ratio (a ratio that does not include future expected proceeds from capital raising endeavors in the coming years), is 0.22. Please explain the difference between the two ratios, and what is considered a good ratio for the Unadjusted Dividend Cushion ratio, what is an excellent score, what is neutral and what is poor? Also, how much relative importance should … Read more

Which Sectors Are Leading the Market Higher? And Why Is This Important?

Missed the ’13 Most Important Steps to Understand the Stock Market’? Click here. Demand academic evidence regarding the efficacy of the Valuentum process? Click here. Tobias J. Moskowitz and Mark Grinblatt documented the “strong and prevalent momentum effect in industry components of stock returns which accounts for much of the individual stock momentum anomaly” in their scholarly article published in the Journal of Finance, ‘Do Industries Explain Momentum’ (download here; stable link here; updated by Fraulo and Nguyen here). Moskowitz and Grinblatt also concluded that “industry momentum investment strategies, which buy stocks from past winning industries and sell stocks from past losing industries, appear highly profitable.” Such findings are consistent with the ‘Case for the Valuentum Style of Investing,’ and … Read more

Chemical Firms Continue to Worry About Economy; PPG Industries, Ecolab, and Eastman Chemical Stand Out in Second Quarter

The most common theme expressed by constituents in the chemicals (broad) industry during the calendar second quarter had to do with concerns about the economy. The negative tone was so prevalent that either management teams in the industry have started to engage in an executive form of “group think” or the economic environment continues to be difficult for many cyclical and largely commoditized chemical entities. Many industries, including housing, aerospace, and automotive, continue to perform well, but we think the latter interpretation of such commentary is likely correct: Albemarle (ALB): “an economic environment that saw continued sluggishness across Europe…and a much weaker China” Air Products (APD): “continued economic weakness…our outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year continues to be … Read more

How to Think About Corporate Tax Reform