MCO

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending December 23

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending December 23. 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 8point3 Energy Partners (CAFD): now $0.249 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2406. ALPS Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors ETF (GRI): now $0.460527 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.382421. ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL): now $0.906383 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.271693. Amgen (AMGN): now $1.15 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.00. Boston Prop (BXP): now $0.75 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.65. Camden National … Read more

Podcast: Why ETFs and Roasting the Banks

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The Valuentum analyst team talks about why we don’t like the business models of banking entities, why they are currently destroying economic value, but also why the team includes exposure in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. What gives? Find out in this ~9 minute podcast. If you cannot view the video, please view the transcript that follows. Tickerized for holdings in the exchange traded funds, XLF and KBE, and for various financials-oriented ETFs.  Kris Rosemann: Hello and welcome to the Valuentum Securities podcast. My name is Kris Rosemann Associate Investment Analyst at Valuentum. With me is Chris Araos and Brian Nelson President of Equity Research and ETF Analysis at Valuentum. Today, we are going to have a quick discussion over … Read more

AT&T Targeting Disruption in Transformational Merger

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Key Takeaways AT&T has agreed to acquire Time Warner for $85.4 billion in cash and stock in a deal that is expected to close by the end of 2017. Strict regulatory scrutiny can be expected. The deal has the potential to disrupt the traditional pay-TV industry while setting AT&T apart from its competitors in the wireless telecom industry, where growth has become sparse for the firm. The telecom industry is maturing, and price-slashing competition has changed the game as network differentiation has largely become a thing of the past. We’re not fans of the debt that will come with the completion of the deal, but the prospects of what the combined entities could produce are certainly interesting. We view the … Read more

The Times They Are a-Changing

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This article was first published September 2013. It has not been updated. It has been republished to recognize the Nobel Prize in Literature being awarded to Bob Dylan October 13, 2016. Image Source: Mikko Tarvainen Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won’t come again And don’t speak too soon For the wheel’s still in spin And there’s no tellin’ who That it’s namin’ For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin’. — Bob Dylan – Times They Are a-Changin I was reading an article the other day that had come to the conclusion that stock funds will get more asset flows (read: be easier … Read more

Part III: Nelson’s Evaluation of Berkshire’s 2015 Annual Report

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<< Go back to Part I << Go back to Part II By Brian Nelson, CFA It’s always a wonder to open up on the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) annual report for a large variety of different reasons, but every time I do I can’t help but ponder yesteryear through the table on page 2, “Berkshire’s Performance vs. the S&P 500.” I think I have a unique knack for imagining what might have been if today’s standards would have been applied to Berkshire in the 1970s, perhaps in some ways how many baseball fans may think about whether the legends of the past would have put up the type of numbers that they did if presented with today’s dynamics. For … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending December 19

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending December 19. 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 3M (MMM): now $1.025 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.855. AES (AES): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.05. Amgen (AMGN): now $0.79 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.61. Andersons (ANDE): now $0.14 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.11. Apollo Residential Mortgage (AMTG): now $0.45 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.44. AT&T (T): now $0.47 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.46. Balchem (BCPC): now $0.30 … Read more

Booyah! Jim Cramer Under Attack!

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TheStreet’s director, major shareholder, and employee is under fire from an activist investor that has disclosed a near-9% stake. Per SEC Filing: J. Carlo CannellCannell Capital LLCP.O. Box 3459, 150 East Hansen Avenue, Jackson, WY 83001(307) 733-2284 Mr. James J. CramerDirectorTheStreet, Inc.14 Wall StreetNew York, NY 10005   Cannell Capital LLC – that twenty-two-year-old SEC-registered investment advisor which manages sundry accounts that collectively owned 8.95% percent of TheStreet,Inc. (“TST” or the “Company”) as of December 2, 2014 – hereby amends its filing position as regards TST from passive to active because certain matters of governance concern it. The structure of your relationship with TST leads these concerns. Allow me to review some facts. 1. The market capitalization of TST has … Read more

Is Predicting Stock Prices Easy? 100% of Economists Say “No Way!”

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By Brian Nelson, CFA “Don’t get frustrated if one or two of your ideas don’t work out. This is to be expected in a portfolio of stocks. You’re investing to achieve your goals. It is only human and natural to be wrong sometimes.” The University of Chicago’s Initiative on Global Markets frequently puts out a survey from a variety of different standpoints on relevant issues of the day. Though the write-up from the World Economic Forum goes into countering “the general perception that economists rarely agree on anything,” we were quite interested in one particular dynamic: 100% of economists think predicting stock prices is difficult, while 45% of the public thinks predicting stock prices is not difficult (presumably easy). The … Read more

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more