LONDON -- The�FTSE 100�set a five-and-a-half-year record of 6,638 points last Friday, and though the index is down from that today at 6,617, it still looks like hanging on to the 6,600 level -- even if that absolute value is ultimately meaningless. The top-tier index is also set to record its sixth successive close above 6,500 today, barring any afternoon slump. Recent levels are a far cry from the FTSE's 52-week low of just 5,230 points, set on June 1, 2012.
Which of the U.K.'s major companies are helping push up the FTSE? Here are three reaching new highs of their own today:
GlaxoSmithKline
Shares in pharmaceuticals giant and�Beginners' Portfolio�member�GlaxoSmithKline� (LSE: GSK ) (NYSE: GSK ) are up nearly 20% over the past 12 months, having hit a 52-week high of 1,692 pence today -- though as I write, the price is back a penny from that on 1,691 pence.
Despite the effect of the "patent cliff" when drug protection expires, and threats from generic competition, Glaxo has keep earnings up and there's a modest rise expected for the year to December -- the firm appears to be managing its expansion into new biotechnology areas reasonably well. The P/E is around the FTSE average of 14 even after the rise, and we have a nice dividend yield of 4.7% forecast for 2013.
Top 5 Consumer Service Companies To Own In Right Now: Universal Corporation(UVV)
Universal Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a leaf tobacco merchant and processor worldwide. It engages in selecting, procuring, buying, processing, packing, storing, supplying, shipping, and financing leaf tobacco for sale to, or for the account of, manufacturers of consumer tobacco products. The company processes and/or sells flue-cured and burley tobaccos, dark air-cured tobaccos, and oriental tobaccos; and provides value-added services, including blending, chemical and physical testing of tobacco, just-in-time inventory management, and manufacturing reconstituted sheet tobacco. Its flue-cured, burley, and oriental tobaccos are used principally in the manufacture of cigarettes; and dark air-cured tobaccos are used in the manufacture of cigars, pipe tobacco, and smokeless tobacco products. The company was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Marc Bastow]
Leaf tobacco supplier Universal Corporation (UVV) raised its quarterly dividend 2% to 51 cents per share, payable on Feb. 10 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 13.
UVV Dividend Yield: 4.06%
- [By Lawrence Meyers]
This isn�� some massive utility service generation billions. As dividend stocks go, it’s a nice, simple business that makes a few million in free cash flow every year and distributes most of it to shareholders as a 3.7% yield … and has been doing so for 41 years.
Universal Corporation (UVV)Dividend yield: 3.9%
- [By Rupert Hargreaves]
Universal Corp (NYSE: UVV ) has paid out and raised its dividend for 41 consecutive years. This puts the company in an elite club of dividend aristocrats.�Aside from Altria (NYSE: MO ) , which has been paying and increasing its payout for 43 years, Universal actually has the longest dividend history of any company within the tobacco sector.
Top Penny Stocks To Buy For 2014: Micron Technology Inc.(MU)
Micron Technology, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and marketing of semiconductor devices worldwide. Its products include dynamic random access memory (DRAM) products that provide data storage and retrieval, which include DDR2 and DDR3; and other specialty DRAM memory products, including DDR, SDRAM, DDR and DDR2 mobile low power DRAM, pseudo-static RAM, and reduced latency DRAM. The company also offers NAND flash memory products, which are electrically re-writeable and non-volatile semiconductor devices that retain content when power is turned off. In addition, it provides NOR flash memory products that are electrically re-writeable and non-volatile semiconductor memory devices; phase change memory products; and image sensor products. Micron Technology?s products are used in a range of electronic applications, including personal computers, workstations, network servers, mobile phones, flash memory cards, USB storage devices, digital still c ameras, MP3/4 players, and in automotive applications. It sells its products to original equipment manufacturers and retailers through internal sales force, independent sales representatives, and distributors, as well as through a Web-based customer direct sales channel. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Selena Maranjian]
The biggest new holdings are Assured Guaranty�and the SPDR Select Financial Sector ETF. Other new holdings of interest include Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU ) and Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT ) . The struggling PC market has hurt Micron, but bulls are hopeful that growth in tablets and smartphones will�boost demand�for memory chips. Micron's purchase of Japanese manufacturer Elpida has some investors quite optimistic, as it boosts Micron's capacity and its relationship with�Apple. Micron has been losing market share, though, and some worry about the commoditization of memory and Micron's debt levels. Several analysts increased their price targets for the stock recently.
- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
291% on Micron Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), recommended on Valentine's Day 2013 at $8.08 a share. It turned out to be quite a gift: Micron has traded as high as $31.60, and analysts are calling for it to zoom even higher.
Top Penny Stocks To Buy For 2014: Gentiva Health Services Inc.(GTIV)
Gentiva Health Services, Inc. provides home health services and hospice care in the United States. The company offers skilled nursing and therapy services, paraprofessional nursing services, and homemaker services primarily to adult and elderly patients through licensed and Medicare-certified agencies. It also provides its services through specialty programs comprising Gentiva Orthopedics, which offers individualized home orthopedic rehabilitation services to patients recovering from joint replacement or other major orthopedic surgery; Gentiva Safe Strides that provides therapies for patients with balance issues; and Gentiva Cardiopulmonary, which helps patients and their physicians manage heart and lung health in a home-based environment. In addition, the company offers services through Gentiva Neurorehabilitation, which helps patients who have experienced a neurological injury or condition by removing the obstacles to healing in the patient?s home; Gentiva Senior Health that addresses the needs of patients with age-related diseases and issues; and Rehab Without Walls unit, which provides neurorehabilitation therapies for patients with traumatic brain injury, cerebrovascular accident injury, and acquired brain injury. Further, it offers consulting services to home health agencies, which include operational support, billing and collection activities, and on-site agency support and consulting. Additionally, the company provides hospice services primarily in the patient?s home or other residence, such as an assisted living residence or nursing home, as well as in a hospital. Gentiva Health Services, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
What: Shares of home health providers Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED ) , Gentiva Health Services (NASDAQ: GTIV ) , and�LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG ) �swooned as much as 28%, 20%, and 15%, respectively, following a public proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, late yesterday that in-home health care reimbursements be cut by 1.5% in 2014.
- [By Erin McCarthy]
Gentiva Health Services Inc.(GTIV) confirmed Thursday that its board has rejected Kindred Healthcare Inc.'s(KND) $533 million takeover bid, saying the proposal significantly undervalues the company.
- [By Sean Williams]
Last week, we saw home-health sector stocks like Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED ) and Gentiva Health Solutions (NASDAQ: GTIV ) get clobbered because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recommended a 1.5% reduction in Medicare reimbursements each year between 2014 and 2017. With Amedisys and Gentiva reliant on Medicare for more than 80% and 90% of their revenue, respectively, it could put hospitals that rely on government reimbursements in a growth bind.�
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Healthcare stocks gained Wednesday, with Senomyx (NASDAQ: SNMX) leading advancers after the company announced a research agreement with PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP). Among the leading sector stocks, gains came from Pernix Therapeutics Holdings (NASDAQ: PTX), Albany Molecular Research (NASDAQ: AMRI) and Gentiva Health Services (NASDAQ: GTIV).
Top Penny Stocks To Buy For 2014: Ever-Glory International Group Inc.(EVK)
Ever-Glory International Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of apparel for women, men, and children. Its products include coats, jackets, slacks, skirts, shirts, trousers, vests, skiwear, down jackets, knitwear, and jeans. The company offers its products to the casual wear, sportswear, and outerwear brands, as well as retailers, such as department stores, flagship stores, stores-within-a-store, and specialty stores primarily in Europe, the United States, Japan, and the People?s Republic of China. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 293 retail stores in the People?s Republic of China. The company is based in West Covina, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Small cap apparel stock G-III Apparel Group, Ltd (NASDAQ: GIII) has been making bullish moves lately plus the stock is up 97.1% since the start of the year, making it the third best performing apparel stock (according to stock screener Finviz)�after small cap�Ever-Glory International Group Inc (NYSEMKT: EVK) and mid cap Fifth & Pacific Companies Inc (NYSE: FNP) followed by mid cap Hanesbrands Inc (NYSE: HBI). But is the G-III Apparel Group dressed for long term success for investors?
Top Penny Stocks To Buy For 2014: Glatfelter (GLT)
P. H. Glatfelter Company manufactures and sells specialty papers and fiber-based engineered materials in the United States and internationally. It offers carbonless and forms papers for credit card receipts, multi-part forms, security papers, and other end-user applications; book publishing papers for the production of hardbound books and other book publishing needs; envelope and converting papers for the direct mail market, shopping bags, and other converting applications; and engineered products for digital imaging, transfer, casting, release, postal, playing card, and other niche specialty applications. The company also provides food and beverage paper used for tea bags and single serve coffee products; metallized products used in the labeling of beer bottles, innerliners, gift wrap, self-adhesive labels, and other consumer products applications; and composite laminates papers used in production of decorative laminates, furniture, and flooring applications, as well as a line of paper products used in batteries, medical masks, and other engineered applications. In addition, it offers airlaid non-woven fabric-like materials used in feminine hygiene products, adult incontinence products, cleaning pads and wipes, food pads, napkins and tablecloths, and baby wipes. The company markets its products directly, as well as through wholesale paper merchants, brokers, and agents. P. H. Glatfelter Company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in York, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
Glatfelter (NYSE: GLT ) has a new asset in its portfolio. The company announced it has finalized the acquisition of Germany-based Dresden Papier, which according to the American firm is "the leading global supplier of nonwoven wallpaper base materials."
- [By CRWE]
Glatfelter (NYSE:GLT) reported that the previously announced presentation by Dante C. Parrini, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, at the Deutsche Bank Global Industrials and Basic Materials Conference on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 will be available via a live web cast.
- [By Marc Bastow]
Specialty papers and and fiber-based materials manufacturer P.H. Glatfelter (GLT) raised its quarterly dividend 10% to 11 cents per share, payable May 1 to shareholders of record as of April 3.
GLT Dividend Yield: 1.44%
Top Penny Stocks To Buy For 2014: QC Holdings Inc.(QCCO)
QC Holdings, Inc. provides various retail consumer financial products and services in the United States. The company offers payday loans that provide cash to the customers in exchange for a promissory note with a maturity of two to three weeks. It also provides financial products and services, such as installment loans, credit services, check cashing services, title loans, money transfers, and money orders. In addition, QC Holdings operates as a credit services organization that arranges a third-party lender to make a loan to the consumer and for providing related services to the consumer, including a guarantee of the consumer?s obligation to the third-party lender. Further, the company sells used vehicles and earns finance charges from the related vehicle financing contracts; and provides reconditioning services on its inventory of vehicles, and repair services for its customers. As of As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 523 short-term lending branches in 24 sta tes; and 5 buy here, pay here lots located in Missouri and Kansas. QC Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
QC Holdings (NASDAQ: QCCO) shares tumbled 2.58% to reach a new 52-week low of $2.27. QC Holdings' trailing-twelve-month profit margin is 0.60%.
NewLead Holdings (NASDAQ: NEWL) shares dipped 6.56% to touch a new 52-week low of $0.08 after the company completed the acquisition of titles in the Viking Mine located in Kentucky, USA.
- [By Lisa Levin]
QC Holdings (NASDAQ: QCCO) shares tumbled 3.68% to reach a new 52-week low of $1.83. QC Holdings shares have dropped 42.60% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 31.67% in the same period.
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