Category: Stock Market

The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price struggled today amid the latest news about the ongoing takeover fight for Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API).

What’s going on?

The Wesfarmers share price went down more than 1% today. That’s on the same day that the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) went down around 0.3%.

Both Wesfarmers and Sigma Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SIG) are interested in buying API. Each business has a different offer for the company.

Sigma has previously submitted an offer that was conditional, non-binding and indicative to merge with API. Sigma thinks that the rationale for a combination of API and Sigma is “highly compelling” with significant benefits accruing to both sets of shareholders.

Under the proposal, API shareholders would receive a consideration of 2.05 Sigma shares and $0.35 cash for each API share held. This put the total bid at a value of $1.57 per API share, before the expected synergies. The API shareholder base would own just under half of the business if the deal were to go through.

Sigma is bullish on what a combination of the two businesses could mean. Management think it would result in the diversification of revenue streams, product and customer. Another benefit could be significant synergies and other efficiencies being available for shareholders. It could create a stronger platform to operate in a changing industry landscape. An enlarged Sigma could also benefit from greater scale and balance sheet capacity.

According to reporting by The Australian, Sigma and its advisers are thinking about “a raid” on API. The newspaper noted that Sigma could buy a “large” stake in the business by acquiring shares on the market. It also suggested that Sigma is thinking about increasing its takeover offer for API.

Where does this leave Wesfarmers and the share price?

Last week, Wesfarmers acquired 19.3% of API from Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL).

As part of the announcement, it noted it’s still committed to buying API, with an offer of $1.55 cash per API share on the table. It’s currently progressing with its confirmatory due diligence to support its proposal.

Wesfarmers said it has the view that its proposal is superior to the Sigma proposal and is in the best interests of API shareholders. The retail conglomerate does not intend to support or vote its 19.3% holding of API in favour of the Sigma proposal.

Rob Scott, the Wesfarmers managing director, said the proposal would deliver an attractive premium and certain cash return to API shareholders:

Wesfarmers continues to see opportunities to invest in and strengthen the competitive position of API and its community pharmacy partners. Exercising our option to acquire 19.3% of API reflects the group’s commitment to the transaction and the continued progress of the Wesfarmers proposal.

Wesfarmers thinks that buying API would give it the basis of a new healthcare division and a platform from which to invest and develop capabilities in the growing health, wellbeing and beauty sector.

The post Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price struggles amid latest API speculations appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• API (ASX:API) share price lifts following guidance upgrade
• Can the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price reach $60 by Christmas?
• Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price lifts in latest push for API
• Australian Pharmaceuticals (ASX:API) share price lifts following Wesfarmers 19% stake
• The final Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) dividend will be paid out today. Here’s what you need to know

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns shares of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited and Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price has performed exceptionally over the past 6 months. Although the digital travel business has continued to be suppressed by restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company’s shares have surged.

Presently, shares in the $2.36 billion company are up 17% in the last 6 months. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has climbed a steady 4.6% over the same timeframe.

Considering that Webjet’s revenue remains severely impacted by the pandemic, investors are likely wondering why the Webjet share price is outperforming the index. While the exact answer is up for interpretation, there are a few likely influencing factors.

The reopening trade

Essentially, investors are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel for travel shares as vaccination rates near reopening levels. In fact, today marks ‘Freedom day’ for residents of New South Wales after the state batten down the hatches for 107 days.

This comes as NSW reaches 90.3% of the over 16-year-old NSW population receiving their first dose. Likewise, over 60% of Australians over 16 are now fully vaccinated. For reference, at 80% fully vaccinated, domestic travel restrictions will not apply to vaccinated residents. Additionally, outbound travel restrictions will be removed for those inoculated against the virus.

This daily infographic provides the total number of vaccine doses administered in Australia as of 8 October 2021

Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccine information here: https://t.co/lsM33j9wMW pic.twitter.com/HtXuAozYh5

— Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) October 9, 2021

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

As a result, ASX-listed travel shares have gotten a boost recently as investors eye the eventual reopening of domestic and international travel. While the Webjet share price may have outperformed the benchmark index, other travel companies have outdone its performance in the past 6 months.

• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) up 22.6% to $22.35
• Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) up 22.8% to $23.36
• Helloworld Travel Ltd (ASX: HLO) up 41.2% to $2.89

Webjet share price gets a buy rating

It is often supportive of a higher share price whenever an analyst considers it a ‘buy’. In this case, analysts at UBS recently rated the Webjet share price a buy with a price target of $6.85.

According to the note, the broker expects pent-up demand for travel will be considered once restrictions are lifted. Hence, UBS’ target suggests a potential 9.6% upside from the travel company’s current share price.

The post Why the Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price has beaten the ASX 200 in the last 6 months appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Can the Webjet share price fly to $7 by the end of 2021?
• It hasn’t been a great week so far for the Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price
• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• Why ASX 200 travel shares are having a bumper day
• Up 5%, the Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price is back to March 2020 levels. Here’s why

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Helloworld Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Corporate Travel Management Limited, Helloworld Limited, and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Flight Centre Travel Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price has been on fire lately, rising 25% since the start of September.

The energy producer’s shares finished Tuesday up another 1.49% to $7.49 apiece.

What’s driving Santos shares higher?

Investors have been buying up Santos shares after they were trading as low as $5.99 last month.

Santos updated the ASX regarding its merger plans with energy peer Oil Search Ltd (ASX: OSH) on 10 September. It advised that the two companies entered into a definitive agreement to combine in an all-scrip transaction.

Oil Search shareholders are set to receive 0.6275 new Santos shares for each Oil Search share held. Upon completion, this would give Oil Search shareholders a 38.5% stake in the newly merged entity. Santos shareholders will retain the remaining 61.5% interest.

The merged group will become the ASX’s largest oil and gas company and a top 20 global player. In essence, this would give the merged company a diversified portfolio of long-life and low-cost assets with significant growth options.

It is expected that the implementation date will be 16 December 2021.

Another reason why Santos shares are moving higher is the rising price of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI). From 20 September, the WTI has surged from trading around US$70.14 per barrel to now US$80.87 per barrel. This represents an increase of about 15% over the past 3 weeks.

What do the brokers think?

A number of brokers have weighed in on the Santos share price last month following its merger update.

Swiss investment firm UBS raised its price target by 2.4% to $8.65 for Santos shares. Meantime, JPMorgan also lifted its outlook. The multinational investment bank improved its view by 0.6% to $8.05 per share.

Both brokers’ assessments on the current Santos share price imply an upside of around 18% and 10%, respectively.

About the Santos share price

It’s been a strong 12 months for Santos shares, rising to almost 46% with year-to-date up 19% so far. It’s worth noting that the company’s share price is nearing its 52-week high of $7.84 achieved earlier this year.

Based on today’s price, Santos commands a market capitalisation of roughly $15.58 billion and has approximately 2 billion shares outstanding.

The post How did the Santos (ASX:STO) share price perform in the last quarter? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 energy shares rise amid market sell-off
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• Why A2 Milk, Magellan, Santos, & Whitehaven Coal shares are falling
• ASX 200 energy shares pull back as oil prices take a breather

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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 no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO) is partnering up with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA).

To be precise, fintech company Waddle – Xero’s subsidiary, acquired by the cloud accounting giant in October 2020 – is inking the partnership deal.

Here’s why.

What partnership was announced?

CBA continues to march forward with its rapid pace of digitalisation and cloud migration.

And it’s now enlisting Xero for the company’s fintech knowhow.

In a release today, the bank reported on its new digital lending solution, Stream Working Capital, which is set to launch across Australia in October.

The program enables companies to use their outstanding invoice balances as loan securities to access new funds.

According to CBA, 55% of businesses surveyed currently considered invoice financing as a last resort. And 71% said they had “limited knowledge” about how it all worked.

The survey, conducted by House of Brand, polled 406 Aussie business owners and executives at the end of September.

Commenting on the new program, CommBank’s executive general manager of business lending, Clare Morgan, said:

Stream Working Capital sees us effectively lending against invoices, so businesses are seeing credit limits adjust in real time based on the value of current outstanding invoices. As the solution is digital end-to-end and integrated with cloud based accounting software such as Xero, a lot of customer pain points are removed.

She said the turnaround time using Stream Working Capital was 72 hours, “compared to an industry standard of several weeks”.

CBA said that partnering with Xero’s Waddle would enable automation of much of the working capital finance process. That includes credit assessment, underwriting and monitoring.

Xero share price snapshot

The Xero share price is sliding today, down 3.9% at $133.85 in late afternoon trade.

It’s not just Xero in the red today though. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.4% at this same time.

And tech shares are having an even harder time of it, with the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) down 2.0%.

Xero’s shares are up 16% over the past 12 months and down 9% over the last month.

The post Xero (ASX: XRO) subsidiary inks new partnership with CBA appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• CBA (ASX:CBA) share price edges higher amid legal proceedings
• CBA (ASX:CBA) share price slips as bank spruiks carbon credit opportunity
• How did ASX bank shares perform in the last quarter?
• Why do Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) shares keep topping the volume charts?
• Could the CBA (ASX:CBA) share price hit $120 by the end of 2021?

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Xero. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The oOh!Media Ltd (ASX: OML) share price experienced a pretty significant wobble today despite no news having been released by the company.

The out-of-home advertising products company (think, billboards, public transport advertisements, and digital media) had a brilliant morning on the ASX before plunging into the red.

In fact, the oOh!Media share price clocked up a new 52-week high when it hit $2.04 in intraday trade.

However, at market close, the company’s stock was trading for $1.92. That’s 1.54% lower than its previous closing price and 5.88% lower than its shiny new 52-week high.

So, what might have spurred the advertising company’s stock to jump then fall on Monday? Let’s take a look.

What might be driving oOh!Media on the ASX?

The oOh!Media share price struggled during the afternoon despite having a great, but equally unexplained, start to the day

However, the oOh!Media share price’s surge might have been in reaction to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in some parts of Australia.

Generally, more people moving about outside means more eyes on oOh!Media’s products.

As of today, fully vaccinated people in New South Wales can live life with fewer restrictions.

Now, 10 vaccinated people in NSW can gather at home, 30 can get together outdoors, and 100 people can attend weddings and funerals.

Additionally, travel is opening back up to regional NSW, though not for holidays just yet.

Today is also a good day for those in some regional Victorian areas who might also be seeing a few more out-of-home advertising products.

The Victorian government kicked off its ‘Vaccinated Economy Trial’ today.

There are 14 businesses in 6 regional areas taking part in the trial.

The areas selected for the trial are those with high vaccination rates and few COVID-19 cases. They include the Bass Coast Shire, Warrnambool, Buloke, Greater Bendigo, Pyrenees, and East Gippsland.

oOh!Media share price snapshot

Despite today’s dip, the oOh!Media share price has been performing well on the ASX lately.

It has gained 15% since the start of 2021. It is also 34% higher than it was this time last year.

The post Why did the oOh!Media (ASX:OML) share price just hit a 52-week high? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Which shares are set to finish the week as the top movers on the ASX 300?
• 2 ASX shares that won’t stay cheap: fund manager

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 recommended oOh!Media Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is not having a fantastic start to the trading week so far this Monday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by 0.36% to 7,294 points. But one ASX share is faring far worse. That would be WAM Research Ltd (ASX: WAX).

The WAM Research share price is currently trading at $1.72 a share. That’s down more than 3.6% from where this Listed Investment Company (LIC) closed at last Friday. Operated by the famous Wilson Asset Management (the WAM in WAM Research), this ASX LIC focuses on investing in a portfolio of small to mid-cap ASX shares with an industrial bent.

Some of its most recently disclosed holdings include Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB), Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) and Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR). 

WAM Research has also been one of the best performing LICs on the ASX in recent years. Since mid-2010, it has averaged an annual performance of 16.8% per annum (before fees and taxes). 

So why is this WAM LIC trailing the ASX 200 so comprehensively today?

WAM Research trails ASX 200 after going ex-dividend

Well, fortunately for investors, there is a simple and perhaps even welcome reason. WAM Research has just traded ex-dividend on the ASX boards today. Yes, from today, new shareholders won’t be entitled to WAX shares’ upcoming final dividend.

This company is scheduled to fork out its second and final dividend of the year on 22 October, in 10 days time. Eligible shareholders will receive a dividend of 4.95 cents per share, fully franked. That’s a small but still bankable increase from the final dividend of 4.9 cents per share last year.

Like many of WAM’s ASX LICs, WAM Research has amassed a reputation as a heavyweight when it comes to dividend income. But let’s see what this share price drop does for its yield.

So at an annualised payment of 9.9 cents per share against the current WAM Research share price of $1.72, this dividend is worth a yield of 5.76%. If we include the value of WAM Research’s full franking credits, this yield grosses-up to a hefty 8.23%.

No one likes to see the value of their shares go down. But what has happened today to the WAM Research share price on the ASX is one of the best reasons to see a drop in value. I’m sure shareholders won’t be complaining in 10 days time!

The post WAM Research (ASX:WAX) dividend hits 8% after share price drop appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These 7 ASX shares are going ex-dividend this week
• 2 ASX dividend shares with fully franked yields of more than 5% today
• These 2 ASX shares have been named as good opportunities

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen owns shares of WAM Research Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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In late trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the week with a decline. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.3% to 7,296.9 points.

Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are sinking:

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)

The Afterpay share price is down 4% to $117.80. This follows broad weakness in the tech sector. A disappointing finish to the week on Wall Street’s tech-focused Nasdaq index appears to be behind these declines. Afterpay is falling more than most due to the Square share price dropping over 4% on Friday night. It is currently in the process of acquiring Afterpay in an all-scrip deal.

Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX: PTM)

The Platinum share price is down 5% to $3.22. This appears to have been driven by the release of another disappointing funds under management update after the market close on Friday. One broker that wasn’t impressed was Credit Suisse. In response, the broker retained its underperform rating and cut its price target of $3.20.

Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR)

The Star share price is down 22% to $3.33. Investors have been selling this casino and resorts operator’s shares following media reports alleging money laundering, organised crime, large-scale fraud, and foreign interference. Star has responded stating that it “is concerned by a number of assertions within the media reports that it considers misleading.”

Strike Energy Ltd (ASX: STX)

The Strike Energy share price has sunk 16% to 23.5 cents. This follows the release of its maiden Perth Basin Gas Reserve. According to the release, 300 petajoule (PJ) 2P and up to 372 PJ 3P gross gas Reserves at the West Erregulla gas field in the Kingia Sandstone have been certified. This appears to have fallen well short of the market’s expectations.

The post Why Afterpay, Platinum, Star, & Strike Energy shares are sinking appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the 3 heaviest traded ASX 200 shares on Monday
• Which ASX 300 shares are making headlines on Monday?
• Why is the Star Entertainment (ASX:SGR) share price plunging 19%?
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Star shares crash, tech shares tumble
• Why the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price is down 3% today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) hasn’t exactly given us a flying start to the trading week this Monday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by 0.38% so far today to 7,292 points.

So rather than dwell on that number, let’s instead check out which ASX 200 shares are trading with the heaviest volume so far today, according to investing.com.

The 3 heaviest traded ASX 200 shares on Monday

Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)

Our first ASX 200 share to check out today is the coal miner Whitehaven. Whitehaven has so far today seen a hefty 15.49 million of its shares bought and sold. There are no developments of an official nature out of the company so far today.

However, the Whitehaven share price has seen a big move today that is probably responsible for this high volume. Whitehaven is currently up a very healthy 5.88% to $3.42 a share at the time of writing.

Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT)

Beach is another ASX 200 share that’s flying around the markets today. This Monday has seen a sizeable 19.14 million Beach shares swap hands so far.

Another ASX resources share, Beach shares also seem to be trading at an elevated volume due to a share price movement. Beach shares are currently up a robust 2.08% today to $1.475 a share. Earlier in the day, the oil driller climbed as high as $1.50. This seems to be the reason behind this high trade volume.

Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR)

Our final ASX 200 share today is a rare guest appearance on this list. But boy, is it here for a good reason! This gaming company and casino operator has seen a whopping 40.96 million of its shares change hands so far this Monday. We don’t have to look too far to see what’s happening here. As my Fool colleague Brooke comprehensively covered earlier today, the Star share price has spent most of this Monday in freefall.

Star shares are down a devastating 22.2% to $3.33 a share at the time of writing. This seems to be in response to several media outlets launching allegations against the company. These reports allege Star has allowed “suspected money laundering, organised crime, fraud, and foreign interference in its casinos”. This sizeable drop in Star’s share price is almost certainly the reason so many shares are trading today.

The post Here are the 3 heaviest traded ASX 200 shares on Monday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why Afterpay, Platinum, Star, & Strike Energy shares are sinking
• Which ASX 300 shares are making headlines on Monday?
• ASX 200 energy shares rise amid market sell-off
• Why is the Star Entertainment (ASX:SGR) share price plunging 19%?
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Star shares crash, tech shares tumble

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 no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX: NVA) share price is off to a flying start this week and is trading 50% higher at 16.5 cents.

Nova Minerals shares are on the move after the company announced a key update regarding its flagship Estelle Gold Project.

Here’s what we know from what Nova released.

Nova Minerals share price spikes on ‘bonanza’ gold results

Nova announced it had intersected a broad zone of high-grade “bonanza” gold grades when drilling at the Estelle site’s RPM North mineralised prospect.

Drilling is now complete at this section with a further three holes pending. According to Nova, the goal is to “delineate a maiden resource by late 2021” and then advance through the project’s pipeline.

This marks the end of the maiden drill program at RPM North, and a follow-up work program is now being planned for the next round of drilling.

Aside from this, the work program also intends to extend the gold zone’s footprint for the RPM South prospect as early as possible in 2022.

Furthermore, the RPM prospect is “now confirmed to be the second significant project development area at Estelle, and will be a key component” in the path to production at its Estelle site.

The results build on previous drill results Nova announced last month regarding its RPM North prospect. The company now has assay results pending for over 10,000m of drilling from both its RPM prospect and additional Korbel Main site.

Nova also advised that all rigs have moved back to the Korbel Main site, to maximise infill and drill data for upcoming mineral resource updates.

In a separate point, Nova also exclaimed that a “Snow Lake Resources update (is) due shortly”.

What did management say?

Speaking on the announcement, Nova Minerals CEO, Christopher Gerteisen said:

This marks a major milestone for Nova Minerals. RPM is now confirmed to be the second significant project development area at Estelle and will be a key component of our ongoing resource development work on our path towards production at the Estelle Gold Project. This is what unlocking a district looks like, and we will continue to do so with Korbel and RPM representing only 2 of 15 known prospects with the wider Estelle Gold Project claims. In addition to these, there are numerous unnamed colour anomalies across our 324km2 claim block.

Nova Minerals share price snapshot

The Nova Minerals share price has had a difficult year to date, having posted a return of just 3% since the beginning of the year.

Despite this, it has climbed over 68% into the green in the past year of trade, after rallying 14% in the last month.

This result outpaces the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)’s gain of around 20% in the past year.

The post Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA) share price rockets 52% on gold update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA) share price tanks 18% on cap raise news

The author Zach Bristow has no positions 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 no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the week with a decline. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.4% to 7,288.3 points.

Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here’s why they are charging higher:

Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD)

The Ampol share price is up 3% to $30.02. Investors have been buying the fuel retailer’s shares after it announced that it has entered into a binding scheme implementation agreement to acquire Z Energy Ltd (ASX: ZEL). According to the release, the two parties have agreed on a price of NZ$3.78 cash per share. This represents an enterprise value of NZ$2.8 billion. Management expects the deal to create a “Trans-Tasman fuel champion.”

Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)

The Fortescue share price is up almost 5% to $14.93. There appear to have been a couple of catalysts for this rise. One was a solid night for iron ore prices on Friday and the other is a broker note out of Ord Minnett. The latter has seen the broker downgrade its iron ore price forecasts but retain its buy rating, albeit with a slightly trimmed price target of $25.00.

Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG)

The IAG share price is up 3.5% to $5.37. This insurance giant’s shares are charging higher after the Federal Court found in favour of insurers on a significant number of policy wording questions in the second business interruption test case. And while the court found in favour of policyholders on other questions, IAG revealed that it is reviewing the judgment to determine whether to appeal any aspect of it.

Perenti Global Ltd (ASX: PRN)

The Perenti share price is up 4% to 99 cents. The catalyst for this appears to have been a broker note out of Macquarie this morning. According to the note, the broker has retained its outperform rating and lifted its price target on Perenti’s shares to $1.10. The broker was pleased to see the company reaffirm its FY 2022 guidance at its annual general meeting.

The post Why Ampol, Fortescue, IAG, & Perenti shares are charging higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why the Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price is up 4% today
• Ampol (ASX:ALD) share price zooms higher on NZ$2.8bn Z Energy acquisition
• Is Fortescue Future Industries listed on the ASX?
• Why are ASX hydrogen shares in the spotlight on Monday?
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Star shares crash, tech shares tumble

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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 owns shares of and has recommended Insurance Australia Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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