The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) traded in the green for much of Wednesday before plunging into the red at the last moment. It ended the day 0.09% lower at 7,251.6 points.

And mining shares led much of its gains, with the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) coming in as today’s top-performing sector. It rose 2.3% to regain all of its Monday losses.

The S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) also outperformed today, gaining 1.6% following a strong overnight session for oil prices.

Brent crude oil rose 1.7% to US$83.89 a barrel overnight while US Nymex crude oil lifted 1.8% to trade at US$77.05 a barrel.

But not all rejoiced today. The S&P/ASX 200 Communications Index (ASX: XTJ) fell 2.3% on Wednesday as Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) shares traded ex-dividend.

So, with all that covered, which ASX 200 share posted the index’s biggest gain today? Let’s take a look.

Top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown

Today’s top-performing ASX 200 share was none other than Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX: RMS). It gained 6.7% to close at $0.955 despite only silence from the gold miner.

These shares made today’s biggest gains:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX: RMS)	$0.955	6.7%
St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM)	$0.575	5.5%
Perseus Mining Limited (ASX: PRU)	$2.06	4.83%
Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE)	$11.87	4.58%
Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN)	$86	4.17%
Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)	$2.83	4.04%
BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL)	$19.82	3.99%
De Grey Mining Limited (ASX: DEG)	$1.45	3.94%
Champion Iron Ltd (ASX: CIA)	$7.66	3.93%
Regis Resources Ltd (ASX: RRL)	$1.805	3.74%

Our top 10 shares countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to let you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the weekday market closes to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• Own Telstra shares? Here’s how the ASX 200 telco is raising $650 million
• Why are ASX 200 mining shares leading the market today?
• Investing in ASX 200 lithium stocks? Here’s why this 6% decline in China matters
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday
• Why Allkem, Argosy Minerals, Mayne Pharma, and NextDC shares are racing higher

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/uPMcTF9

Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) shares closed the session on Wednesday down 2.8% to $4.04 apiece.

This is likely due to the communications sector stock going ex-dividend today.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) closed down 0.1% on a lacklustre day of trading.

What’s this about a bond raise?

The ASX 200 telco hasn’t announced any official news to the market today.

However, The Australian reports that Telstra intends to raise $650 million through an Australian bond raise.

This is the biggest Australian bond raise by the ASX 200 telco since 2017.

The margin is 100 basis points above the bank bill swap rate, with a coupon value of 4.93%.

The senior bond has a five-year timeframe and has reportedly attracted $1.9 billion in demand.

The article states the raise is “believed to be part of Telstra’s normal course of fundraising activities”.

As my Fool colleague Sebastian reports, Telstra shares are among the three most heavily traded ASX 200 stocks on Wednesday.

At the closing bell, more than 15.625 million Telstra shares have swapped hands today.

Should you buy Telstra shares?

As we recently reported, top broker Macquarie is bullish on Telstra shares with a 12-month price target of $4.64. It also forecasts a fully franked full-year dividend of 17 cents per share in FY23.

Macquarie likes Telstra’s higher earnings certainty, strong cash flows, and tax-effective dividend income.

Another top broker, Goldman Sachs, also has a buy rating on Telstra shares and predicts similar growth with a price target of $4.60.

Morgans is the latest broker to put a buy rating on Telstra, with a price target of $4.70.

The post Own Telstra shares? Here’s how the ASX 200 telco is raising $650 million appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Looking to buy Telstra shares? Boss reveals ‘profound opportunity’ for growth
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday
• Why Brainchip, Cooper Energy, Link, and Telstra shares are dropping today
• ASX 200 leaps higher on latest GDP and inflation news

Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has positions in Macquarie Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Macquarie Group and Telstra Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/nJgrHCz

The Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price has made a good recovery since its plunges in 2018 and again in 2020. But Telstra management is now eyeing other growth opportunities.

It has gone through the transition to the NBN, which caused a big hit to year-over-year profit growth.

Telstra is now working on rolling out its 5G service to customers. This can unlock new forms of entertainment, communication, and so on. It could also mean that Telstra is able to serve and connect industries in new or different ways.

With that in mind, it has been reported today that Telstra is focused on a particular area for growth. This could also help the Telstra share price.

Can agriculture spur the next leg of earnings growth?

Talking to the Australian Financial Review, Telstra CEO Vicki Brady reportedly named growth of services to agriculture (and other non-traditional markets) as a key focus of her leadership.

These insight came about while the telco’s CEO was attending the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

An important part of the strategy is working with more industries as digitisation increases. The AFR quoted some of her speech:

It is an exciting time to be in telco, and I’m looking ahead at the next decade as one of profound opportunity…Connectivity is the bedrock, but it is not the end point, it is just the beginning.

She pointed to the Australian Farmers Federation wanting to grow production from $75 billion today to over $100 billion by 2030, which could mean deploying internet of things (IoT) devices and other digital technology.

It could also mean connecting its mobile and IoT networks and satellites with other technologies, such as long-range wi-fi from companies like start-up Zetifi. Brady said:

Zetifi is a good example of us needing to get comfortable with not being the only connectivity option available.

This requires a mindset change. I’ve been in telco for more than two decades, and I’ve seen opportunities pass by because we were defending what we had, instead of thinking about the larger opportunity that could be created if we worked together.

If we don’t, we risk others capturing that value over our networks.

…we are absolutely at our core a telecommunications company and I don’t want it to be misinterpreted, as that will be critical … However, I think we’ve got an opportunity on top of that connectivity, with the ability to partner and co-create.

Overall, this could be quite positive for the business if it unlocks more earnings streams.

Telstra share price snapshot

Since the start of 2023, Telstra shares have risen 2.5%.

The post Looking to buy Telstra shares? Boss reveals ‘profound opportunity’ for growth appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday
• Why Brainchip, Cooper Energy, Link, and Telstra shares are dropping today
• Why is the Telstra share price sliding lower on Wednesday?
• Top ASX shares to buy in March 2023
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/DN6FK75

When we hear that a director, let alone the CEO, of an ASX 200 share that we own is selling shares, it can cause some consternation. But $1 million worth of shares? Now we have something worth talking about.

That’s exactly the situation faced by investors in Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) today.

This morning, Super Retail Group, the company behind famous retail names like Rebel, BCF and Super Cheap Auto, put out an ASX announcement detailing this director transaction.

It reveals that Super Retail CEO and group managing director Anthony Heraghty offloaded a total of 87,000 shares of Super Retail Group last month. The transactions occurred over 22, 23 and 24 February, and amounted to a value of just over $1.17 million.

That implies an average sale share price of roughly $13.46 per share. That’s fairly close to Super Retail’s new 52-week high of $13.75 that we saw the company hit late last month.

Today, Super Retail shares are going for a bit below that level, asking $12.98 each at the time of writing.

Heraghty has been the CEO of Super Retail since early 2019. So why is the CEO of this company selling shares? Does this mean investors should follow suit and bail out?

ASX 200 CEO sells shares, should investors be worried?

Well, not really. CEOs buy and sell shares of their companies all of the time. We investors obviously like to see management have the same skin in the game as we do.

But even CEOs need to think about wealth diversification. It’s rarely good investing practice to tie up 100% of one’s wealth in a single share, even for an ASX 200 CEO.

In a statement put out concurrently with the ASX notice, Super Retail clarified that Heraghty’s share sales have “been undertaken to fund a tax payment relating to the exercise of vested performance rights”.

It also stressed that “Mr Heraghty continues to hold 252,840 ordinary shares and 340,986 performance rights in the Company”.

Those ordinary shares alone would have a value of just over $3.28 million today. So it’s not as though the CEO doesn’t still have a lot of skin in the game here.

So it’s up to investors to decide whether this sale of Super Retail Group’s shares by its CEO is worthy of concern or not. But from the outside, this doesn’t look like anything too out of the ordinary for a director.

The post Why did this ASX 200 CEO just sell $1 million worth of his company’s shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#43B02A”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#43B02A”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• 3 ASX 300 shares soaring to new 52-week highs on Friday
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Why A2 Milk, Piedmont Lithium, QBE, and Super Retail shares are racing higher
• Why term deposits can’t compete with these 5 ASX dividend machines

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Super Retail Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Super Retail Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/ABxwIn4