In a recent transaction on July 1, Winmill & Co. Inc, an affiliate of the registered investment adviser, made a notable purchase of shares in Bexil Investment Trust (NYSE:BXSY). The transaction involved the acquisition of 6,934 shares at a price of $12.52 per share, amounting to a total investment of approximately $86,813.

The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which provides public transparency of the trading activities of company insiders and affiliates. Winmill & Co. Inc’s position in Bexil Investment Trust following the transaction stands at 6,934 shares.

The transaction indicates a potential confidence by Winmill & Co. Inc in the future performance of Bexil Investment Trust, although it should be noted that such transactions are not uncommon and can be motivated by a variety of factors. Investors often monitor insider purchases as they may provide insights into the company’s prospects as seen by those closest to its operations.

The filing was signed by Russell Kamerman, acting on behalf of Winmill & Co. Incorporated, and was submitted on July 2, the day following the transaction.

Bexil Investment Trust, represented by the ticker BXSY, is a company that operates within the financial sector, though its specific classification within the industry is not disclosed. The company shares a business address with Winmill & Co. Inc in Rochester, New York.

Investors and market watchers may keep an eye on further filings to gauge whether insiders continue to buy or sell shares, which could indicate their ongoing assessment of the company’s value and prospects.

InvestingPro Insights

Bexil Investment Trust (NYSE:BXSY) has recently seen notable insider activity with Winmill & Co. Inc’s acquisition of shares, suggesting a vote of confidence in the company’s trajectory. According to InvestingPro, Bexil’s revenue in the last twelve months as of Q4 2023 stood at $5.59 million. Despite a challenging period that saw a revenue decline of -15.59% during the same timeframe, the company’s gross profit margin impressively remained at 100%, indicating that it was able to maintain the cost of goods sold at a minimal level relative to its revenue.

Furthermore, Bexil’s adjusted operating income for the last twelve months as of Q4 2023 was reported at $2.53 million, with both basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) for continuing operations standing at $3.35. This level of profitability, combined with a robust dividend yield of 8.0% as of mid-2024, may offer an attractive proposition for income-focused investors.

The company’s stock has experienced a 20.32% total return over the past year, reflecting a positive market sentiment. In the short term, the one-week price total return has been modest at 0.85%, yet the six-month return has been more significant at 8.66%. These metrics, along with a relatively low average daily volume of 0.03 million USD, may appeal to investors looking for steady performance with lower volatility.

For those interested in delving deeper into Bexil Investment Trust’s financial health and future prospects, InvestingPro provides additional insights. There are more InvestingPro Tips available on the platform, which can be accessed with a special discount using the coupon code PRONEWS24 to get up to 10% off a yearly Pro and a yearly or biyearly Pro+ subscription.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Tesla sales, hit by a significant slump earlier this year, may be showing signs of revival.

Elon Musk’s electric car-maker delivered nearly 444,000 vehicles in the three months ended 30 June, up more than 14% from the prior quarter.

That was far more than most analysts had expected – though still down nearly 5% from the same period in 2023.

Tesla has been navigating a slowdown in demand, as high borrowing costs weigh on buyers and competition increases.

It has slashed prices repeatedly to try to win back shoppers, while also introducing low-cost borrowing plans.

But its success in this has been limited.

The firm, which announced plans in April to sack more than 10% of its workforce, has seen sales fall in the first half of the year.

At the start of the year, Tesla blamed its poor performance in part on supply shortages due to shipping disruption in the Red Sea and an alleged arson attack at its factory in Germany.

But analysts say Tesla needs to freshen its line-up, if it hopes to stop rivals from making inroads.

The company started selling its cyber-truck last year but that remains a tiny part of its business. Its mainstream Model 3 sedan was first released in 2017.

Mr Musk, who recently won shareholder support for a record-breaking pay package worth roughly $50bn, has outlined a bright future for the firm, underpinned by self driving and automation.

And despite industry concerns that demand for electric vehicles in the US in recent months has been weaker than anticipated, the sector is still growing globally.

More than one in five cars sold this year around the world are expected to be electric – including nearly half in China and roughly a quarter in Europe, according to a recent outlook from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said he thought the worst was behind Tesla, noting signs of improvement in China, where the government recently announced it would give money to people who trade in older cars in a wider boost for the industry.

“While its been a difficult period for Tesla and the company has been through some significant cost reductions (roughly 10%-15%) to preserve its bottom line/profitability, it appears better days are now ahead,” he wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday.

He said he expected the firm’s upcoming August presentation on robotaxis to drive a new wave of growth.

Shares in the firm jumped more than 6% in morning trade on Tuesday following the news.

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Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have surged 48 per cent in the past five years due to the expansion of its data centres that underpin artificial intelligence systems, leaving its commitment to get to “net zero” by 2030 in doubt.

The Silicon Valley company’s pollution amounted to 14.3mn tonnes of carbon equivalent in 2023, a 48 per cent increase from its 2019 baseline and a 13 per cent rise since last year, Google said in its annual environmental report on Tuesday.

Google said the jump highlighted “the challenge of reducing emissions” at the same time as it invests in the build-out of large language models and their associated applications and infrastructure, admitting that “the future environmental impact of AI” was “complex and difficult to predict”.

Chief sustainability officer Kate Brandt said the company remained committed to the 2030 target but stressed the “extremely ambitious” nature of the goal.

“We do still expect our emissions to continue to rise before dropping towards our goal,” said Brandt.

She added that Google was “working very hard” on reducing its emissions, including by signing deals for clean energy. There was also a “tremendous opportunity for climate solutions that are enabled by AI”, said Brandt.

As Big Tech giants including Google, Amazon and Microsoft have outlined plans to invest tens of billions of dollars into AI, climate experts have raised concerns about the environmental impacts of the power-intensive tools and systems.

In May, Microsoft admitted that its emissions had risen by almost a third since 2020, in large part due to the construction of data centres. However, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates last week also argued that AI would help propel climate solutions.

Meanwhile, energy generation and transmission constraints are already posing a challenge for the companies seeking to build out the new technology. Analysts at Bernstein said in June that AI would “double the rate of US electricity demand growth and total consumption could outstrip current supply in the next two years”.

In Tuesday’s report, Google said its 2023 energy-related emissions — which come primarily from data centre electricity consumption — rose 37 per cent year on year, and overall represented a quarter of its total greenhouse gas emissions. 

Google’s supply chain emissions — its largest chunk, representing 75 per cent of its total emissions — also rose 8 per cent. Google said they would “continue to rise in the near term” as a result in part of the build-out of the infrastructure needed to run AI systems. 

Google has pledged to achieve net zero across its direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and to run on carbon-free energy during every hour of every day within each grid it operates by the same date.

However, the company warned in Tuesday’s report that the “termination” of some clean energy projects during 2023 had pushed down the amount of renewables it had access to.

Meanwhile, the company’s data centre electricity consumption had “outpaced” Google’s ability to bring more clean power projects online in the US and Asia-Pacific regions.

Google’s data centre electricity consumption increased 17 per cent in 2023, and amounted to approximately 7-10 per cent of global data centre electricity consumption, the company estimated. Its data centres also consumed 17 per cent more water in 2023 than during the previous year, Google said.

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