24/7 Wall St. » PFG

August’s New Massive Stock Buybacks… Over $30 Billion (LOW, CVS, CELG, COV, INTU, DISCA, HRS, LMT, RSG, LOW, ABC, MXIM, ANR, AVT, JAH, LUV, STJ, ECL, IPG, FRX, ACE, CLF, CTSH, KBR, NWL, VRX, AKAM, AOL, DLB, URBN, ACM, CHTR, MYGN, PFG, HSIC)

Administrator — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:00:52 +0000

The pace of stock buyback announcements in the month of August was almost unbelievable. The pace was stronger at the start of the month when earnings were still coming in droves, but the number of newly announced buyback plans and the extended or expanded buyback plans remained high throughout the entire month. Many companies announce share buybacks and never spend much on the actual plan. Today, these companies are by and large actually living up to their promises. These are The August Buyback Kings….

We would normally group these alphabetically, but not today. We grouped these in order of size and then we used an alphabetic order when it came to the same size of a buyback announcement. The first group is the billions of dollars.

We then grouped the stocks by size again from the under $1 billion down to $500 million, and then we grouped the buybacks of under $500 million down to $200 million. Usually we would cut the list off at buybacks of the $100 million and higher but the list was already too big so we cut the Buyback Kings off at $200 million for August. Lastly, we have a chart at the very end tallying it all up…. Some $28.7 billion for just the $200 million and higher in new or expanded buyback announcements. There were literally dozens of other buybacks that were closer to the $100 million mark and many more that were less than that.

The $1 billion and higher alone which were announced in August were as follows: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW); CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS); Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

Filed under: Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ABC, ACE, ACM, AKAM, ANR, AOL, AVT, CELG, CHTR, CLF, COV, CSCO, CTSH, CVS, CVX, DISCA, DLB, ECL, FRX, HRS, INTU, IPG, JAH, KBR, LMT, LOW, LUV, MXIM, MYGN, NWL, NWSA, PFG, RSG, STJ, URBN, VRX, XOM

Share Buyback Announcements Continue In Droves (PFG, BIN, CLF, LTM, ACM, FRX, IPG, MYGN, RSG, LO, NWL, TIVO)

Administrator — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:18:32 +0000

It was just last week that we had identified literally 25 big share buyback announcements from companies in the preceding two weeks. These companies were actually buying back the stock as well rather than the historic buybacks that are not required to spend a penny. It turns out that the trend for August remains. Many new buyback announcements have been announced and it seems like companies are unlocking cash to repurchase their shares in droves.

Some of the larger and more impacting buyback announcements have been made by the following companies: Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG); Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (NYSE: BIN); Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF); Life Time Fitness Inc. (NYSE: LTM); AECOM Technology Corp. (NYSE: ACM); Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX); Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG); Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN); Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG); Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO); Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL); and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO).

By now you already know that the attitude of 24/7 Wall St. is that dividends offer better long-term value than buybacks. We have shown what the dividend yield is for each here, or we have shown that there is no dividend.

Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG) announced that its board of directors has authorized a share buyback plan for up to $200 million in common stock. This represents about 8.5 million shares at current prices when average daily volume is 2.7 million shares. Its market cap is about $7.4 billion. The dividend yield is roughly 2.3% as of today.

Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (NYSE: BIN), also referred to as BFI Canada, announced a buyback of up to 4 million shares of common stock. That is about $80 million at today’s price. The market cap is $2.5 billion and the average daily volume is about 428,000 shares. The dividend yield is listed as being about 2.5%.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) has announced the authorization to buy back up to 4 million shares, close to $300 million in total per today’s dollars. The market cap is nearly $11 billion and the average volume is 3.7 million shares. The company’s dividend yield is only 1.5%.

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ACM, BIN, CLF, FRX, IPG, LO, LTM, MYGN, NWL, PFG, RSG, TIVO

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ALTR, ANSS, APSG, ATHN, BIDU, C, HIG, HD, JBLU, MSFT, PFG, LUV, WIT, XLNX)

Administrator — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:11:09 +0000

These are some of this Monday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) Started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Ansys Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Applied Signal Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: APSG) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Target raised to $116 at HSBC.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Added to Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: HIG) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Jetblue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: PFG) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALTR, ANSS, APSG, ATHN, BIDU, C, HD, HIG, JBLU, LUV, MSFT, PFG, WIT, XLNX

TARP Approved For Insurance Money: More Cash From The Taxpayer’s Pocket (LNC)(PRU)(HIG)(PFG)

247wallst — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:38:08 +0000

The Washington Post is reporting that the Treasury Department has granted approval for insurance companies to have access to TARP funds. It is not clear what that will do to the balance in the TARP “account.” By some estimates it is down to $115 billion. Some of the banks who have received funds plan to pay that money back in the coming months. Other banks may need additional capital from the TARP.

The news does mean that the financial bailout is spreading and that the Treasury must believe that there is some systemic risk to a failure of one or more of the large insurance companies.

Earlier reports are that the Hartford (HIG), Prudential (PRU), Lincoln National (LNC), and Principal Financial Group (PFG) will receive capital.

Now taxpayers can own shares in all of those companies, too.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Banking, Financial Stocks Tagged: HIG, LNC, PFG, PRU

Top Anlayst Upgrades (CAH, CENT, CHS, GPS, HELE, PFG, STEC, TJX)

247wallst — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:33:53 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst comments and analyst upgrades from Wall Street early this Tuesday morning:

Cardinal Health (CAH) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Central Garden (CENT) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.
Chico’s FAS (CHS) Raised to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Gap Inc. (GPS) Raised to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Helen of Troy (HELE) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.
Principal Financial (PFG) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
STEC (STEC) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
TJX Cos. (TJX) Raised to Overweight at Barclays; Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: CAH, CENT, CHS, GPS, HELE, PFG, STEC, TJX

FAS/FAZ Dealing With Billions of Dollars of Securities Sales from Members (FAS, FAZ, BBT, COF, PFG, WFC, USB)

247wallst — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:50:47 +0000

The triple leverage ETF’s, the Direxion Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and Direxion Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ), are perhaps the most volatile of all financial-stock ETF’s. This morning they are getting to deal with a wave of secondary offerings and capital offerings from constituent member banks and financial firms. These ETF’s are reacting to major “raising cash” filings and offerings from BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), and US Bancorp (NYSE: USB).

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) plans to repay its TARP obligations as well. The trust bank has filed to sell about $1.5 billion in new stock, and plans to cutting its dividend by 68% to $0.15 to preserve cash in lower earnings. BB&T shares are down almost 5% at $25.00 after the open.

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) sold 56 million shares of common stock at $27.75 to pay back TARP funds. This comes on the heels that the stress test showed the bank did not need to raise funds. Shares were down 11% after the open at $27.78.

Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG) was not one of the stress test institutions and is more of an insurance and asset manager than anything else. But it is raising close to $1 billion via a sale of 42.25 million shares of common stock. Shares are down 8% at $21.61 after the open.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) filed to sell 341 million shares of common stock to raise more than $7 billion (and more than $8 billion if overallotment comes in) and the use of proceeds is “for general corporate purposes.” Because Raymond James upgraded the stock, its shares are “only down 2%’ at $27.56 shortly after the open.

US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) has filed to sell up to $2.5 billion in private capital via a common stock sale for TARP repayment more than anything.

As a result of all of these financials lower on offerings and after seeing profit taking in other major financial firms, we have the Direxion Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) down 9.8% at $11.32 and the Direxion Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) up 8.9% at $4.90 at 9:47 AM EST.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Banking, Dividend, ETF, Financial Stocks, Secondary Offering Tagged: BBT, COF, FAS, FAZ, PFG, USB, WFC

Top Analyst Downgrades (ACN, FCX, MBRX, NXY, PFG, RBA)

247wallst — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:12:18 +0000

These are some of the top analyst downgrades or cautious research calls we have seen this Tuesday morning before the market opens:

Accenture (ACN) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Metabasis (MBRX) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Nexen (NXY) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.
Principal Financial (PFG) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
Ritchie Brothers (RBA) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, FCX, MBRX, NXY, PFG, RBA

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AER, AGU, CF, GVA, MFLX, OMRI, PM, PFG, TRA)

247wallst — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:40:11 +0000

These are some the top pre-market upgrades from analysts we have seen with more than two hours until the market opens this Tuesday morning:

AerCap (AER) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Agrium (AGU) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
CF Industries (CF) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Granite Construction (GVA) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Multi-Fineline Electronix (MFLX) Raised to Buy at Needham.
Omrix Biopharma (OMRI) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Philip Morris International (PM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Principal Financial (PFG) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Terra Industries (TRA) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
November 3, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AER, AGU, CF, GVA, MFLX, OMRI, PFG, PM, TRA

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BXP, DWA, DUK, MET, MTB, PRXL, POR, PFG, PSA, UDR)

247wallst — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:02:08 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst calls we are seeing this Friday morning:

Boston Properties (BXP) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
DreamWorks Animation (DWA) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Duke Energy (DUK) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
MetLife (MET) Resumed at Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
M&T Bank Corp (MTB) Raised to Neutral at Baird.
Parexel (PRXL) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Portland General (POR) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Principal Financial (PFG) Raised to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Public Storage (PSA) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
UDR Inc. (UDR) Raised to Outperform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
October 10, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BXP, DUK, DWA, MET, MTB, PFG, POR, PRXL, PSA, UDR

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (RATE, CE, CSCO, DCP, RL, PFG, RYAAY, AKH, VM, XL)

247wallst — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:20:09 +0000

Below are some of the early bird analyst calls that are affecting shares in pre-market trading:

Bankrate Inc. (NASDAQ: RATE) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
Celanese (NYSE: CE) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) downgraded to Neutral from overweight at JPMorgan; downgraded to Neutral at Baird; more to come.
Dyncorp international (NYSE: DCP) upgraded to Buy at Jefferies; upgraded to Outperform at Wachovia.
Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
Ryanair Holdings (NASDAQ: RYAAY) and Air France KLM (NYSE: AKH) were both raised to Buy at UBS.
Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) downgraded to Equal Weight at Lehman.
XL Capital (NYSE: XL) cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
February 7, 2008