BALTIMORE, April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of
Directors of The Adams Express Company (NYSE: ADX) today declared
an interim dividend of $0.05 per
share, payable June 1, 2012, to
stockholders of record May 14, 2012.
This dividend represents the second payment this year towards the
Company's commitment to pay out to stockholders an amount that will
result in an annual distribution rate of at least 6% for the
year.*
*The annual distribution rate is the total income dividends and
capital gain distributions during the year divided by the average
month-end market price of the Company's Common Stock on the NYSE
for the twelve months ended October
31.
The Company also announced the Fund's performance for the first
quarter.
First Quarter Returns
For the three months ended March
31st, the total return on Adams Express' net asset value,
with dividends and capital gains reinvested, was12.5%. Comparable
figures for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500) and
the Lipper Large-Cap Core Mutual Fund Average (Lipper Peer Group)
were 12.6% and 12.4%, respectively. The total return on Adams
Express' market value was 14.4%. The net capital gain realized by
Adams Express on its investments for the three months was
$0.07 per share.
For the twelve months ended March
31st, the total return on Adams Express' net asset value,
with dividends and capital gains reinvested, was 4.9%. Comparable
figures for the S&P 500 and the Lipper Peer Group were 8.5% and
6.0%, respectively. The total return on Adams Express' market value
was 3.0%.
Adams Express' net asset value at March
31, 2012, is compared with the year earlier in the following
table:
|
Net Asset
Value
|
|
3/31/12
|
3/31/11
|
|
Net
assets
|
$1,176,974,864
|
$1,167,420,989
|
|
Shares
outstanding
|
91,108,554
|
88,920,291
|
|
Net assets
per share
|
$12.92
|
$13.13
|
Securities Transactions
During the first quarter, the Company added ten new names to its
portfolio with the purchases of shares of Affiliated Managers Group
(asset management), AT&T Corp., Diageo plc ADR (beverages),
Express Scripts Inc. (health care), Kansas City Southern
(railroad), McKesson Corp. (health care), MetLife Inc., NiSource
Inc. (utility), Terex Corp. (industrial machinery), and Verizon
Communications Inc. The Company added to its existing holdings in
AXIS Capital Holdings, CF Industries, Emerson Electric, General
Electric, Honeywell, Schlumberger, South Jersey Industries, and
Wisconsin Energy. The Company eliminated one name from the
portfolio with the sale of its shares of Abbott Laboratories.
Holdings were reduced in ADTRAN, Apple, Bank of America,
BorgWarner, Broadcom, Bunge, Caterpillar, Celgene, Chevron, F5
Networks, Freeport-McMoRan, Hewlett-Packard, MDU Resources, Morgan
Stanley, NetApp, Norfolk Southern, Northeast Utilities, Oracle,
Peabody Energy, Potash Corporation, Prudential, T. Rowe Price, Teva Pharmaceutical, United
Technologies, and Zimmer.
The First Quarter Report to Stockholders is expected to be
released on or about April 20,
2012.
The Adams Express Company is a Baltimore-based closed-end investment company.
It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
ADX.
For further information, please
contact
Lawrence L. Hooper, Jr., Vice
President, General Counsel and Secretary
410-752-5900 or 800-638-2479
E. Mail: contact@adamsexpress.com
Website: www.adamsexpress.com
For your convenience, all press releases are posted to our
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SOURCE The Adams Express Company