U.S. stocks jump at the open as Wall Street closes out week, month and quarter

U.S. stock benchmarks on Friday opened with solid gains, led by a rally for financials stocks, after some of the nation's biggest banks were granted a regulatory blessing by the Federal Reserve to return capital to shareholders late Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.07% rose 180 points, or 0.7%, at 24,395, partly aided by a surge in shares of Nike Inc. NKE, +11.85% up 11%, which reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results and announced a $15 billion stock buyback plan. The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.86% climbed 0.6% at 2,731, with the banking sector, as measured by the exchange traded Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF XLF, +1.50% which comprises JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, +1.31% Citigroup Inc. C, +2.30% and other large-capitalization bank shares, showing gains of 1.4%. The so-called XLF fund had recently put its longest string of declines ever, leading up to the annual test by the Fed of the banking sector's ability to withstand shocks--a stress test that was instituted following the carnage of the 2007-09 financial crisis. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.84% meanwhile, rose 0.6% to 7,544. Friday's trade closes out trading for the week and for June, but also represents the end of the second quarter and the first half of 2018--a period that has mostly been colored by volatile trade and fears about escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and its partners in China, Europe and North America. Investors have feared that trade tensions and toughened rhetoric could devolve into a market-disrupting clash.

Quote References DJIA +258.73 +1.07% NKE +8.50 +11.85% SPX +23.49 +0.86% XLF +0.40 +1.50% JPM +1.38 +1.31% C +1.54 +2.30% COMP +62.88 +0.84% Show all references MarketWatch Partner Center Most Popular ��OK Google, give everybody in America a free speaker�� The stock market is days away from setting a bearish rec

Top Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now

tags:CRZO,VMO,ARE,

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) reported first-quarter�financial results on April 25. With all of its core business segments enjoying solid growth, the pest control specialist is reinvesting part of its tax savings into employee-retention-boosting initiatives, which management believes will drive further profit gains in the coming years.

Rollins results: The raw numbers

Metric

Q1 2018

Q1 2017

Year-Over-Year Change

Revenue

$408.7 million

$375.2 million

8.9%

Net income

$48.5 million

$40.3 million

20.5%

Earnings per share

$0.22

$0.18

22.2%

Data source: Rollins Q1 2018 earnings press release.

Top Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc.(CRZO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  Shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc (NASDAQ:CRZO) jumped nearly 13% by 1:45 p.m. EDT on Tuesday after the company reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Carmignac Gestion raised its position in shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc (NASDAQ:CRZO) by 122.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,000,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 550,000 shares during the quarter. Carmignac Gestion owned 1.22% of Carrizo Oil & Gas worth $16,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Benzinga News Desk]

  Carl Icahn fired off a letter to the board of AmTrust Financial Services (NASDAQ: AFSI) Thursday, blasting the firm for pursuing an “opportunistic going-private transaction” that would squeeze out minority shareholders: Link

  ECONOMIC DATA Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 9:15 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 9:15 a.m. ET. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET. ANALYST RATINGS Evercore upgraded Marriott (NASDAQ: MAR) from In-Line to Outperform Piper Jaffray upgraded Mellanox Technologies (NASDAQ: MLNX) from Neutral to Overweight Jefferies downgraded Carrizo Oil (NASDAQ: CRZO) from Buy to Hold Imperial downgraded Planet Fitness (NYSE: PLNT) from Outperform to In-Line

  This is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day — it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. To get the full version of this note every morning, click here.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRZO. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas in the 4th quarter worth about $128,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas in the 4th quarter worth about $212,000. Quantitative Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas in the 4th quarter worth about $235,000. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY purchased a new stake in shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas in the 4th quarter worth about $296,000. Finally, Bowling Portfolio Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas in the 4th quarter worth about $306,000.

  ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: “Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. (CRZO) Receives $27.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages” was originally reported by Ticker Report and is the property of of Ticker Report. If you are viewing this news story on another site, it was illegally copied and republished in violation of international copyright law. The legal version of this news story can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/3380380/carrizo-oil-gas-inc-crzo-receives-27-00-consensus-target-price-from-brokerages.html.

  Carrizo Oil & Gas Company Profile

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  That bullish inventory number, along with the potential for even higher oil prices, sent oil stocks soaring, with several smaller producers spiking more than 10% today. Among that group was EP Energy (NYSE:EPE), Sanchez Energy (NYSE:SN), Denbury Resources (NYSE:DNR), HighPoint Resources (NYSE:HPR), and Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ:CRZO).

Top Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: Invesco Municipal Opportunity Trust(VMO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Invesco Van Kampen Municpl Opprtnty Trst (NYSE:VMO) declared a monthly dividend on Tuesday, April 3rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.0554 per share by the investment management company on Monday, April 30th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 16th.

Top Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.(ARE)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Todd Campbell]

  It's not just tech companies that can trace their roots back to a garage. According to co-founder Joel Marcus,�Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE)�-- a real estate investment trust specializing in life sciences laboratory and office space -- got its start in a garage, too. Since its founding in 1994, Alexandria Real Estate has grown into an $18 billion commercial real estate Goliath with $1.1 billion in annual revenue. Can this company's success continue?�I recently spoke with Marcus to learn more about the company and its opportunities.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Aecon Group Inc. (TSE:ARE) – Stock analysts at Desjardins cut their FY2018 earnings estimates for Aecon Group in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, May 24th. Desjardins analyst B. Poirier now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $0.96 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $1.14. Desjardins currently has a “Buy” rating on the stock.

• [By Chris Neiger, Anders Bylund, and Todd Campbell]

  Fortunately for you, we asked a few Motley Fool contributors for companies that many investors may not consider dividend stocks, but that have the potential to be great long-term picks. Here's why Alexandria Real Estate (NYSE:ARE), Walt�Disney (NYSE:DIS), and Nielsen Holdings (NYSE:NLSN) made this list.

First Interstate BancSystem (FIBK) Receives $46.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of First Interstate BancSystem (NASDAQ:FIBK) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.00.

FIBK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sandler O’Neill reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of First Interstate BancSystem in a research report on Thursday, March 29th. BidaskClub downgraded shares of First Interstate BancSystem from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 11th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of First Interstate BancSystem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 27th. ValuEngine downgraded shares of First Interstate BancSystem from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 11th. Finally, FIG Partners raised shares of First Interstate BancSystem from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 26th.

Get First Interstate BancSystem alerts:

In other news, Director John M. Heyneman, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.35, for a total value of $74,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,621 shares in the company, valued at $135,244.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Randall I. Scott sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $263,280.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,867 shares of company stock valued at $1,996,912 over the last three months. Insiders own 40.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of First Interstate BancSystem by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,378,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,266,000 after buying an additional 86,997 shares during the last quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Interstate BancSystem by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 113,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,530,000 after buying an additional 6,350 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of First Interstate BancSystem by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,156,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,364,000 after buying an additional 271,054 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of First Interstate BancSystem by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 160,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,419,000 after buying an additional 30,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of First Interstate BancSystem by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 35,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,417,000 after buying an additional 2,917 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.59% of the company’s stock.

First Interstate BancSystem traded up $0.40, reaching $43.55, on Thursday, according to MarketBeat. 206,400 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 178,117. First Interstate BancSystem has a 52-week low of $33.33 and a 52-week high of $44.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.67, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

First Interstate BancSystem (NASDAQ:FIBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, meeting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.68. First Interstate BancSystem had a net margin of 21.49% and a return on equity of 9.50%. The firm had revenue of $135.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $136.17 million. equities analysts forecast that First Interstate BancSystem will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 14th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 11th. First Interstate BancSystem’s dividend payout ratio is 55.72%.

First Interstate BancSystem Company Profile

First Interstate BancSystem, Inc operates as the bank holding company for First Interstate Bank that provides range of banking products and services in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, savings, time, and demand deposits; and repurchase agreements primarily for commercial and municipal depositors.

Good Things Are In Store For STORE Capital

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock size-large wp-image-631509563&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/631509563/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Shutterstock

In a recent &l;a href=&q;https://frameworkinvesting.com&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Framework Investing&l;/a&g; Office Hour session, I spoke with one of Framework&s;s members -- hedge fund alum and New York City-based institutional investor, Robert Ruggirello, CFA -- about a triple-net lease Real Estate Investment Trust called STORE Capital. &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g;&s;s investment style was influenced by the work of the CIO of Yale College&s;s Endowment, David Swenson, who &l;a href=&q;https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/2398-david-swensen-s-guide-to-sleeping-soundly&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;suggests&l;/a&g; that a significant proportion of an investor&s;s portfolio should be allocated to real assets. &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g;&s;s company, &l;a href=&q;http://braveeaglewealthmanagement.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Brave Eagle Wealth Management&l;/a&g;, invests client money with Swenson&s;s advice in mind, and &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g; has become an expert on REIT investing.

An earlier favorite of &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g;&s;s, Grammercy Property Trust (GPT), which he suggested in an April Office Hour session when it was trading for around $22 a share, was recently acquired by Blackstone&s;s Real Estate group for $27.50 a share. &l;span&g;Ruggirello&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;describes the acquisition as a mixed blessing, because, while the immediate 25% gain is nice, it is hard to find a name in the Industrial REIT industry (renting warehouse space to eCommerce and logistics companies) to replace it.

STORE Capital is in a different field from Grammercy; STORE buys the locations of small and medium-sized chains and leases the locations back to the owners using what is known as &q;Triple Net&q; leases. Here is &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g; explaining what a triple net lease is and how the triple net lease structure influences revenue growth and profitability.

&l;span&g;&l;/span&g;

Other firms that specialize in triple net leases like Reality Income (O) -- a company we published a valuation report on to Framework members and are invested in -- focus on providing real estate to large, public companies that have high credit ratings. STORE is different -- leasing to companies with between $10 million and $1 billion in annual revenue, many of which are not closely followed by credit rating agencies.

STORE&s;s co-founder and CEO, &l;a href=&q;https://www.storecapital.com/who-we-are/executive-team/christopher-h-volk/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Chris Volk&l;/a&g;, has been in the business for a long time and has honed a three-pronged approach to managing and monitoring the credit risk of its real estate portfolio that makes a lot of sense. &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g; believes that STORE is effectively arbitraging a relatively opaque market through its risk control procedures, which offer STORE a detailed look at its tenants&s; finances. Volk&s;s business model has not only impressed &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g; and now me, but also the patron saint of value investing, Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway invested in STORE at a 52-week low this time last year.

In the video below, which excerpts a portion of &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g; and my Office Hour discussion, &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g;&a;nbsp;talks about what STORE does, why he believes it does it uniquely well, and what he means when he says he thinks STORE has &q;contract alpha.&q;

&l;!--nextpage--&g;

If you enjoy these videos, please stop by &l;a href=&q;https://www.youtube.com/c/frameworkinvesting&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Framework Investing&s;s YouTube channel&l;/a&g; and subscribe. If you look through our previous videos, you will find a series that features &l;span&g;Ruggirello&l;/span&g; talking about some REIT fundamentals, and which names he likes in the REIT space. I have also been working on analyzing another promising triple-net lease REIT that is undergoing a big transition and which looks very attractively priced. I will be publishing research about that firm to &l;a href=&q;https://frameworkinvesting.com&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Framework Members&l;/a&g; this week.&l;/p&g;