M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) reported Q1 EPS of $1.59, which may not be comparable to estimates of $1.49.M&T reported Q1 net interest margins of 3.69% vs. 3.60% quarter-over-quarter.The company reported Q1 Tier 1 common ratio of 7.04%.M&T also reported Q1 provision for credit losses of $49 million vs. $74 million quarter-over-quarter.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) announced it will be selling its Hong-Kong listed shares of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to Temasek Holdings. The sale will be worth $2.3 billion.This is the largest divestment ever for the world’s biggest bank with 3.55 billion shares being sold, about 4% of ICBC’s Hong Kong traded shares. This will add to Temasek’s growing portfolio of stakes in Chinese banks, having already owned part of China Construction Bank and Bank of China before buying the ICBC shares.Temasek will now have a 1.3 percent stake in the bank. Goldman Sachs has a history with ICBC, having bought a 4.9 percent stake in the bank before its initial public offering in 2006. Goldman paid $2.6 billion for that stake. The American bank now plans to continue to reduce its ownership in ICBC, now having about $3 billion in ICBC shares.
Gannett (NYSE:GCI) reported Q1 EPS of $0.34, topping estimates by $0.02.Revenues in the quarter fell 2.6% to $1.22 billion, inline with estimates.The company reported Q1 advertising revenues of $551.4 million vs. year-ago ad revs of $601.7 million.
Stocks were mostly higher on Monday due to the release of a better than expected retail sales report. Rising yields in Spanish bonds, as well as a decline in value for shares of Apple (AAPL), however, kept gains in check.
Exelon (EXC) today had its price target lowered by Jefferies (JEF) to $42, as the company has much exposure to variations in the commodity price for electricity. A buy rating was issued.
Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned dollars to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.
National Retail Properties (NNN) maintained its quarterly dividend of 38.5 cents per share. The dividend represents an annualized rate of $1.54 per share, and investors can expect to receive a yield of about 5.75% at the current stock price, and it will be payable May 15, 2012 to common shareholders of record on April 30, 2012.
According to a report from 9to5 Mac, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is working on iTunes 11, which may support upcoming iOS 6.Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are trading higher premarket, up 1% on positive comments from Piper Jaffray’s Munster.Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has potential upside of 6.5% based on a current price of $628.44 and an average consensus analyst price target of $669.45.
Investors are ringing in the new trading week pushing stocks higher despite a disappointing report by Citigroup (C) that earnings fell by 12%. Good morning, this is Tracey Fitzpatrick with the Week Ahead Market Report for April 16, 2012.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) unveiled a major redesign for the heavily criticized Google +.The redesign will reportedly include optimized navigation controls and conversation-monitoring capabilities, and the new features for its Hangouts videoconferencing solution.The company now boasts over 170 million Google + users, however, that claim may be overzealous as everyone who clicks on the Google +1 button is considered a user.
