ISS, Glass Lewis Urge Shareholders to Back Hedge Fund’s Call for Changes at Monro (Reuters)
BOSTON, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Two powerful proxy advisory firms support an activist investor’s proposal to overhaul the financial structure at auto service company Monro Inc (MNRO.O), according to reports seen by Reuters, paving the way for all shareholders to have a say on hot-button issues where one person now has veto power. Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have urged shareholders in the $1.9 billion U.S. car service and tire centers company to approve a non-binding shareholder proposal made by hedge fund Ides Capital Management when they vote at next week’s annual meeting.
Hedge Funds are Doubling Down on Their Conviction Buys (Luxembourg Times)
While hedge funds are retreating from a record-setting equity rally, their faith in their own stock-picking skills is growing stronger than ever. The boldness is on display in data compiled by Morgan Stanley’s prime broker unit. The firm’s hedge-fund clients have boosted holdings in their conviction buys, with the 50 most-crowded stocks making up more than 40% of the long book last month for the time since at least 2010.
Natural Resources Performance Moving in the Right Direction (Preqin)
New commodities ‘super cycle’ piques natural resources investors’ interest once again as many look to tap into emerging markets. Historically, investors have used natural resources as a tool for diversification in their portfolios. However, since Q3 2019 performance has been rather poor in comparison with other asset classes, particularly against other real assets, which tended to hit 7-9% net IRR returns over a five-year horizon. Natural resources, however, struggled to break into positive returns, only reaching -2.2%.
Thursday 8/12 Insider Buying Report: ET, ELAN (Nasdaq.com)
On Monday, Energy Transfer’s Executive Chairman, Kelcy L. Warren, made a $9.99M purchase of ET, buying 1,089,828 shares at a cost of $9.17 each. Warren was up about 4.5% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with ET trading as high as $9.58 in trading on Thursday. Energy Transfer is trading off about 0.5% on the day Thursday. This buy marks the first one filed by Warren in the past year. And at Elanco Animal Health, there was insider buying on Wednesday, by President, CEO & Director Jeffrey N. Simmons who bought 16,850 shares for a cost of $29.70 each, for a total investment of $500,445. Elanco Animal Health is trading up about 1% on the day Thursday. Bargain hunters are able to buy ELAN even cheaper than Simmons did, with the stock trading as low as $29.10 in trading on Thursday — that’s 2.0% under Simmons’s purchase price.
A Director at Evans Bancorp (NYSE MKT: EVBN) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, a Director at Evans Bancorp (EVBN), Robert G. Miller, sold shares of EVBN for $390.8K. Based on Evans Bancorp’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending June 30, the company posted quarterly revenue of $22.77 million and quarterly net profit of $6.31 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $19.17 million and had a net profit of $469K. The company has a one-year high of $40.45 and a one-year low of $21.79. EVBN’s market cap is $218 million and the company has a P/E ratio of 9.90.
Donnelley Financial Solutions Inc (DFIN) CEO Daniel Leib Sold $1.2 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Donnelley Financial Solutions Inc, Daniel Leib, sold 35,000 shares of DFIN on 08/10/2021 at an average price of $33.8 a share. The total sale was $1.2 million.
