Amalgamated hits the heights
Recommendation
As we noted in Amalgamated exceeds expectations on 21 Apr 15 (Hold — $12.05), this stock has performed far better than we imagined. When we upgraded it two years ago in Hush, and hear Amalgamated's charms on 21 Feb 13 (Buy — $7.76), we expected that most of the returns would come from dividends and franking credits. Yet since then low interest rates have made the company's steadily increasing dividend even more attractive and that, along with a strong operating performance, has led to a 64% increase in its share price for a total return of 77% once dividends are included.
We considered downgrading last month but ultimately decided to stick to our recommendation guide and kept it as a Hold. Now that Amalgamated's share price is above our $12.50 Sell price, however, it's too expensive for us and we're moving on. SELL.