Category: Stock Market News

Coty Inc. said Friday that it was increasing its dividend payout by 82%, as the fragrance, hair and cosmetics products seller moves to a quarterly payout schedule. The first quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents a share will be payable Dec. 28 to shareholders of record on Dec. 19. Based on Thursday’s closing price of $19.07 for Coty’s stock, the expected annual dividend of 50 cents a share implies a dividend yield of 2.62%, compared with the aggregate S&P 500 dividend yield of 2.07%, according to FactSet. “The increase in our dividend, and the transition of the timing to a quarterly payout schedule, enhances the company’s ability to return cash to shareholders throughout the year,” said Chief Financial Officer Patrice de Talhouet. The stock, which slipped 0.4% in premarket trade, has plunged 26% year to date through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.9%.

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Shares of Charter Communications Inc. jumped 5% in thin premarket trade on Friday after a top European hedge fund manager recommended buying the stock. Chris Hohn, founder of TCI Fund Management, said Charter shares could double or triple in coming years as the company continues to grow “its top-line strongly through subscriber growth and pricing.” Hohn was speaking at the Sohn conference in London on Thursday. The TCI manager also said Charter is likely to buy back 35% of its shares in coming years at higher prices than where they are today.

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Cheniere Energy Inc. said Friday it has ended talks to acquire Cheniere Energy Partners LP Holdings LLC after failing to reach agreement with the board and a specially created conflicts committee. Talks had stretched over six weeks, during which time Cheniere Energy raised its offer to 0.54 shares for each share of Cheniere Energy Partners owned from an original offer of 0.50 shares. “Cheniere has determined that no acceptable definitive agreement can be reached with the conflicts committee at this time,” the company said in a statement. Neither stock was active in premarket trade.

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Eli Lilly & Co. and AstraZeneca PLC announced Friday an agreement to develop a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease that is currently in Phase 1 trials. As part of the agreement, Lilly will make a $30 million upfront payment to AstraZeneca. Lilly will record a 2 cents-a-share charge to earnings in the fourth quarter as a result of the payment. The agreement builds on a current collaboration related to a potential treatment currently in Phase 3 trials. “We are pleased to be expanding our alliance with AstraZeneca to further build our pipeline of potential medicines and diagnostic agents,” said Jan Lundberg, president of Lilly Research Laboratories. AstraZeneca’s stock climbed 1.4% in premarket trade, while Lilly shares were still inactive. AstraZeneca’s stock has tumbled 23% year to date through Thursday, while Lilly shares have dropped 20%, the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has shed 5.6% and the S&P 500 has gained 9.9%.

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Eli Lilly & Co. and AstraZeneca Plc said Friday they have entered an agreement to jointly develop an Alzheimer’s Disease treatment. The companies will work together on MEDI1814, an antibody selective for amyloid-beta 42, which is currently in Phase 1 trials. As part of the agreement, Eli Lilly will make an upfront payment of $30 million to AstraZeneca. Eli Lilly will book a pretax charge of $30 million in the fourth quarter, equal to an after-tax charge of 2 cents a share. Eli Lilly shares were not yet active premarket. AstraZeneca ADRs were up 1.4%, but are down 26% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained about 10%.

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Vail Resorts Inc. reported a wider-than-expected fiscal first-quarter loss and revenue that missed forecasts, but raised its full-year outlook for a measure of cash flow. Losses for the quarter to Oct. 31 widened to $62.6 million, or $1.70 a share, from $59.6 million, or $1.63 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for losses per share was $1.57. Revenue rose to $178.3 million from $174.6 million, but below the FactSet consensus of $183.5 million, as misses in lodging and real estate sales offset a beat in mountain sales. The company now expects fiscal 2017 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $567 million to $597 million, up from previous guidance of $482 million to $518 million. “Our first fiscal quarter historically operates at a loss given that our North American mountain resorts are not open for ski operations during the period,” said Chief Executive Rob Katz. “Lodging bookings for the rest of the season are trending slightly ahead of last year at our U.S. resorts. Based on historical averages, less than 50% of the bookings for the winter season have been made by this time.” The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has climbed 26% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.9%.

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Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday it had finalized its $26.2 billion purchase of Linkedin Corp. , the largest acquisition in the tech giant’s history. The deal was first announced in June. In a blog post on LinkedIn, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced plans to integrate the workplace social network into Microsoft’s products, including notifications within Windows and enabling resumes written in Word to be updated to users’ LinkedIn profiles. In a separate LinkedIn blog post, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, who will continue to lead the company, praised the merger, and told employees that day-to-day operations “would essentially remain unchanged.”

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Match Group Inc. Chairman and CEO Greg Blatt will become Tinder CEO as well, the dating company said late Thursday. Tinder’s co-founder and current CEO, Sean Rad, was tapped to lead Swipe Ventures, which will “seek to expand Tinder’s footprint through acquisitions, development of new businesses and investments in new and existing businesses,” the Los Angeles-based company said in a statement. Match Group’s brands include online dating sites Match and OkCupid, among others, and it also operates test preparation and tutoring company The Princeton Review. Shares of Match were flat in late trading after ending the regular session up 1%. Rad was ousted as Tinder CEO in 2015 following a sexual harassment lawsuit, but returned to the helm in August 2015. Shortly before Match’s IPO in November 2015, he gave a controversial interview to a British tabloid about his dating life.

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Credit Suisse’s Velocityshares 3x Long Crude ETN and VelocityShares 3x Inverse Crude ETN were delisted at the close of markets Thursday, but Citigroup plans to launch two exchange-traded notes for betting on oil prices on Friday. The Velocityshares ETNs gained popularity with young traders as a way to play the gyrations in the price of crude oil over the past year. While UWTI closed up 5.9% on Thursday, it was also down 38% for the year. The DWTI finished Thursday down 5.5%, and was down 75% year to date. The new Citigroup notes will go by the same names but be listed under the tickers “UWT” and “DWT” respectively.

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Five major stock-index benchmarks finished at records on the same day–something that hasn’t happened in more than 18 years, according to Dow Jones data. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.3% at 19,614.81. It was the 13th record for the blue-chip gauge. The S&P 500 index gained 0.2% to end at a record 2,246.19 and the Nasdaq Composite Index wrapped up 0.4% higher at a record 5,417.36, marking its first record since Nov. 29 and joining the other two stock gauges which finished at all-time highs Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Transportation Average also extended its climb to new heights, ending at a fresh record of 9,421.08, while the Russell 2000 index , a gauge of small-capitalization stocks, also closed at a record of 1,386.37. It was the first time all five of those benchmarks scored a record close since March 16, 1998. Equities have been a record-setting run on the back of the belief that President-elect Donald Trump will implement pro-business policies and boost the economy.

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