Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Procter & Gamble Co. rose 0.5% in premarket trade Monday, after B. Riley analyst Linda Bolton Weiser upgraded the consumer products giant to buy from neutral, citing expectations that growth will begin accelerating in the coming months. The rally puts the stock on track to open at the highest level since Jan. 26. Weiser raised her stock price target to $105, which is 21% above Friday’s closing price of $87.04, from $74, which was 15% below. “We met with CEO David Taylor and came away with greater confidence in improved organic sales growth,” Weiser wrote in a note to clients. She thinks P&G is on track for organic sales growth of over 3%, while she said she believes expectations are for 0% to 2% growth. She recommends investors buy the stock ahead of P&G’s next quarterly report in late October. The stock had run up 9.6% year to date through Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average had climbed 6.6%.

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Sysco Corp. shares rose 3.9% in Monday premarket trading after the food company reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Net income totaled $215.67 million, or 38 cents per share, up from $73.03 million, or 12 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted earnings were 64 cents per share, beating the 61-cents-per-share FactSet consensus. Revenue was $13.65 billion, up from $12.40 billion last year and just below the $13.68 billion FactSet estimate. Sysco said food cost deflation was 1.2%, with deflation in meat and dairy offset by inflation in other categories. Sysco shares are up 27.3% for the year so far while the S&P 500 Index is up 6.9% for the same period.

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Performance Sports Group Ltd. said it would not file its annual report by the Aug. 15 deadline, which is expected to result in a default under its current credit facilities’ agreements. The sports apparel and accessories maker said it has initiated discussions with its lenders to address the issue. The delay in the filing of its annual report is a result of the company’s decision to conduct an internal investigation into the finalization of its financial statements and the certification process. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has plunged 64% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.9%.

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Water treatment company Xylem Inc. said Monday it has reached an agreement to buy Sensus for about $1.7 billion in cash. Sensus, which is owned by investment funds linked to The Jordan Company and GS Capital Partners 2000, provides smart meters, network technology and data analytics services for the water, electric and gas industries. Sensus had $837 million in revenue and $159 million in EBITDA in the year through March 31. “The combination of Xylem’s world-class brands and products with Sensus’ leading-edge smart technologies will create a differentiated offering that will better meet our customers’ evolving needs, including greater energy efficiency, water conservation, and improved life-cycle costs,” Xylem Chief Executive Patrick Decker said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Xylem shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 32.7% in the year so far, outperforming the S&P 500 , which has gained 6.9%.

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Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. confirmed Monday that it will buy Post Properties Inc. in an all-stock deal that values the apartment owner at just under $4 billion. Under terms of the deal, each Post Properties stock will be exchanged for 0.71 shares of new MAA stock. Based on Friday’s closing prices, that values Post Properties shares at about $72.53 each, or a 17% premium. With about 53.5 million shares outstanding, according to FactSet, the bid would value Post Properties at about $3.9 billion. The real estate investment trusts expect the deal, with synergies estimated to be about $20 million, to close during the fourth quarter. MAA own about 68% of the combined company’s equity. The Wall Street Journal had reported over the weekend that the companies were near a deal. Post Properties’ stock was still inactive in premarket trade, while MAA shares were indicated about 1.3% higher. Year to date, shares of Post Properties had climbed 5.2% and MAA have surged 12%, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.9%.

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Russia is opening up to an agreement with other major oil producers to freeze output, in a bid to boost crude prices, according to media reports on Monday. Alexander Novak, Russia’s energy minister, said his country is consulting with Saudi Arabia and other producers to jointly cap production “if necessary,” Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported. “We are cooperating in the framework of consultations regarding the oil market with OPEC countries and producers from outside the organisation, and are determined to continue dialogue to achieve market stability,” Novak said, according to Reuters, which cited Asharq al-Awsat. The comments come after Saudi Arabia last week signaled it was considering measures to lift prices following a selloff in oil futures. The idea of a production freeze was also pitched earlier this year, but was quashed in April when Iran refused to get onboard with the plan. Oil prices rallied to a three-week high on Monday, with West Texas Intermediate crude rising 1.4% to $45.12 a barrel.

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was designated $12.7 million in cash payments from a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party, according to a New York Times report published Sunday night. The report cited Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau, whose investigators maintain the payments dated from 2007 to 2012 and were part of an illegal off-the-books system. The investigators have yet to determine if Manafort actually received the cash, and Manafort’s lawyer said he had not received “any such cash payments,” the report added.

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From:: Stock Market News

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was designated $12.7 million in cash payments from a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party, according to a New York Times report published Sunday night. The report cited Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau, whose investigators maintain the payments dated from 2007 to 2012 and were part of an illegal off-the-books system. The investigators have yet to determine if Manafort actually received the cash, and Manafort’s lawyer said he had not received “any such cash payments,” the report added.

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U.K. business software company Sage Group PLC has warned that a data breach may have exposed sensitive information on employees at 280 companies that are its customers, media reports said Monday. “We believe there has been some unauthorized access using an internal login to the data of a small number of our UK customers so we are working closely with the authorities to investigate the situation,” Sage said in a statement posted online. Police are investigating the possible insider hack at the Newcastle-based software maker, whose flagship products focus on accounting software for businesses. Shares in Sage fell 3.7% in early trading Monday.

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The New York Police Department was responding to unconfirmed reports of shots fired Sunday night at John F. Kennedy Airport. Passengers were evacuated from at least one terminal while police searched the area. Currently, no injuries have been reported and there has been no confirmation of a gunman.

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