Posts by: battipagliaj
After an extended period of historically low interest rates, income-focused bond investors have finally found relief as interest rates have risen to levels not seen since late 2007 (see Chart A below). Chart A Time to declare victory, right? If only it were that simple. There are external forces that influence the bond market, none more so than the Federal Reserve (Fed). Who knows what the Fed will do and when? Could they start cutting interest rates this year after two years spent increasing them? Chart B below shows the twenty-year history of the Fed Funds Target Rate. Chart B
On CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange, Kevin Caron discusses today’s robust economy and stock market and how picking quality stocks may benefit a portfolio in an uncertain year ahead.
6 February 2024 I Brentwood, TN The board of directors of Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ: TSCO) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.10 per common share, an increase of approximately 6.7% from the previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. For calendar year 2024, this marks the seventh dividend increase for the Washington Crossing Advisors Rising Dividend portfolio. All seven changes were increases. The average dividend increase is 6.44% compared with December 31, 2023 indicated levels. Please contact your financial advisor for a complete list of all portfolio holdings that have, in the past 12 months, increased, decreased, or had no change in dividend.
Imagine this: The U.S. economy had a stellar year last year, outperforming Europe with a robust 2.5% growth rate. This is a far better performance than almost anyone imagined. It was better than most economists, pundits, and forecasters thought possible a year ago. Yet, not only did the economy grow far better than expected, but investors got hooked on risk again. Novel AI technologies captured investor imaginations, leading the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index to trade at a near-record 60% premium to the S&P 500 based on enterprise-value to cash flow multiples (Nasdaq now trades at 24.3x versus S&P 500 at
25 January 2024 I Lehigh Valley, PA The board of directors of Air Products (NYSE: APD) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.77 per common share, an increase of approximately 1.1% from the previous quarterly dividend of $1.75. For calendar year 2024, this marks the fifth dividend increase for the Washington Crossing Advisors Rising Dividend portfolio. All five changes were increases. The average dividend increase is 6.92% compared with December 31, 2023 indicated levels. Please contact your financial advisor for a complete list of all portfolio holdings that have, in the past 12 months, increased, decreased, or had no change in dividend.
Kevin Caron, Senior Portfolio Manager at Washington Crossing Advisors, was featured on Fox Business’s The Claman Countdown with thoughts on quality and the Magnificent Seven and how Treasuries are still providing competitive yield for investors.
11 December 2023 I Houston, TX The board of directors of Waste Management (NYSE: WM) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.75 per common share, an increase of approximately 7.1% from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. For calendar year 2024, this marks the fourth dividend increase for the Washington Crossing Advisors Rising Dividend portfolio. All four changes were increases. The average dividend increase is 8.38% compared with December 31, 2023 indicated levels. Please contact your financial advisor for a complete list of all portfolio holdings that have, in the past 12 months, increased, decreased, or had no change in dividend. From
At Washington Crossing Advisors (WCA), we go to great lengths describing the high quality businesses selected in our Rising Dividend and Victory equity portfolios. We believe in buying quality companies at reasonable prices that have low debt, predictable cash flows, and are highly profitable and reinvesting back into their business. This follows an intuitive, common sense approach to investing, particularly when considering risk-adjusted return in a strategy. That said, quality investing often becomes convoluted and misunderstood by investors – mainly due to antiquated frameworks put into practice decades ago that have unintentionally become foundational to investing and financial planning. In
28 November 2023 I Rahway, NJ The board of directors of Merck (NYSE: MRK) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.77 per common share, an increase of approximately 5.5% from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. For calendar year 2024, this marks the third dividend increase for the Washington Crossing Advisors Rising Dividend portfolio. All three changes were increases. The average dividend increase is 8.8% compared with December 31, 2023 indicated levels. Please contact your financial advisor for a complete list of all portfolio holdings that have, in the past 12 months, increased, decreased, or had no change in dividend. From the
17 November 2023 I Beaverton, OR The board of directors of Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.37 per common share, an increase of approximately 9% from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. For calendar year 2024, this marks the second dividend increase for the Washington Crossing Advisors Rising Dividend portfolio. Both changes were increases. The average dividend increase is 10.50% compared with December 31, 2023 indicated levels. Please contact your financial advisor for a complete list of all portfolio holdings that have, in the past 12 months, increased, decreased, or had no change in dividend. From the
As 2023 comes to a close and investors look back over the past two years, one can’t ignore the paradigm shift in rising interest rates and its far-reaching effects on markets and the economy. After all, investment portfolios, mortgages, savings accounts, and auto loans, to name a few, have been drastically impacted by rising interest rates, which stand at 5.25% today. To put it into perspective, we have not seen a Fed Funds Rate this high, achieved in such a short period, in over 35 years (see Chart A). Against a backdrop of high rates, risk, and recession uncertainty, it
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