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Shares of Outerwall Inc. skyrocketed in late trading Monday after the parent company of movie-rental Redbox and coin-exchange Coinstar kiosks said Monday its board of directors agreed to increase its dividend to 60 cents a share, from 30 cents a share, payable June 21 to shareholders of record June 7. The company also said it has started to “explore strategic and financial alternatives” to maximize profit, and that it has retained Morgan Stanley as its financial advisor. Outerwall has been under pressure from activist firm Engaged Capital LLC, which has pointed out to what it called “persistent failures by the Board and management team” responsible for years of losses and has said the company should go private. Shares of Outerwall rose 13% in late trading Monday after ending the regular trading day up 0.7%.

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U.S. stocks finished marginally higher on Monday, with the Dow logging its highest close of the year despite a drop in oil prices. The Dow industrials finished 15.48 points, or 0.1%, higher at 17,228.72, led by strong gains from Nike Inc. and Boeing Co. . The S&P 500 shed 2.59 points, or 0.1%, to 2,019.58, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.81 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4,750.28. The correlation between stocks and oil prices will likely loosen as long as prices remain near their recent highs, analysts said.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks finished marginally higher on Monday, with the Dow logging its highest close of the year despite a drop in oil prices. The Dow industrials finished 15.48 points, or 0.1%, higher at 17,228.72, led by strong gains from Nike Inc. and Boeing Co. . The S&P 500 shed 2.59 points, or 0.1%, to 2,019.58, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.81 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4,750.28. The correlation between stocks and oil prices will likely loosen as long as prices remain near their recent highs, analysts said.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Three units of American International Group were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with steering clients into more expensive mutual fund share classes so that they could collect more fees. The SEC said clients were eligible to buy shares without these charges, costing the clients around $2 million. The firms — Royal Alliance Associates, SagePoint Financial, and FSC Securities Corporation — didn’t admit or deny the charges, disgorged $2 million and paid a $7.5 million penalty.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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SunTrust Robinson Humphrey upgraded Constellation Brands Inc. stock to buy from neutral on Monday, and said a recent rebound in the wine business, which accounts for a third of total profits, has not been fully priced in. SunTrust analysts raised their share price target to $170 from $150, but left earnings estimates unchanged. SunTrust had downgraded ratings last April, on concerns that Wall Street was overestimating an improvement in beer margins and failing to appreciate the impact of tough comparisons on sales growth. But expectations have since become more realistic with the fiscal 2017 consensus outlook for beer growth in the high single-digits range. “The largely forgotten part of the STZ story is the Wine segment (44% total sales; 1/3 operating profits) which has underperformed the category for several years,” analysts wrote in a note. “We believe the segment has hit an inflection point in terms of growth and should also benefit from more favorable input costs in the coming quarters.” Shares were trading down 0.7%, but are up 21% in the last 12 months, outperforming the S&P 500, which has fallen 1.6% in the same period.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries left its estimate on global oil demand growth for this year unchanged. World oil demand is expected to rise by 1.25 million barrels a day in 2016 to average 94.23 million barrels a day, according to OPEC’s monthly oil report issued Monday. OPEC also left its non-OPEC oil supply forecast for this year unchanged from its previous report, predicting a fall of 0.7 million barrels a day to an average of 56.39 million barrels a day. OPEC crude output, meanwhile, edged down by 175,000 barrels a day to average 32.28 million barrels a day in February, though output increased from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, OPEC said, citing secondary sources. April oil continued to trade lower, down $1.60, or 4.2%, at $36.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened lower Monday as a fresh drop in oil prices pulled down the shares of energy companies, weighing on the broad benchmarks. The S&P 500 opened 5 points, or 0.2%, lower at 2,017. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 26 points, or 0.2%, to 17,185. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day down 15 points, or 0.3% at 4,735.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News