Gabelli Utility Trust

Gabelli Utility Trust is a closed-end diversified investment management company, which seeks long term growth of capital and income. It invests in companies that provide products, services, or equipment for the generation of electricity, gas, and water. The company was founded on July 9, 1999 and is headquartered in Rye, NY.

GUT's rights offering concluded successfully, issuing 11.6 million shares and raising $58.1 million, though it was undersubscribed with a 76.5% participation rate. The offering was highly accretive, issuing shares at $5 when NAV was $3.09, boosting NAV per share and supporting GUT's high distribution rate. Investors might benefit from the "sell and rebuy" strategy during rights offerings to avoid negative price pressure and potentially acquire shares at lower prices.

GUT Rights Offering Results Quick Notes

GAMCO Investors Inc

RYE, N.Y., Nov. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- November 14, 2024 – The Board of Trustees of The Gabelli Utility Trust (NYSE:GUT) (the “Fund”) approved the continuation of its policy of paying fixed monthly cash distributions. The Board of Trustees declared cash distributions of $0.05 per share for each of January, February, and March 2025.

Gabelli Utility Trust Continues Monthly Distributions, Declares Distributions of $0.05 Per Share

Advent Convertible and Income Fund

PIMCO Access Income Fund

I can't tell you how many times I've mentioned closed-end funds (CEFs) to investors and been met with blank stares in return.

These Closed-End Funds Pay $1,000 A Month On Every $100K Invested

RYE, New York, Oct. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Gabelli Utility Trust (NYSE: GUT) (the “Fund”) is pleased to announce the successful completion of its transferable rights offering (the “Offering” or “Offer”). Preliminary results indicate that the Fund will issue 11,624,109 common shares, for gross proceeds to the Fund of $58,120,545 (including over-subscription requests and notices of guaranteed delivery).

Gabelli Utility Trust Rights Offering Concludes Raising $58 Million

Western Asset Investment Grade Defined Opportunity Trust

We review the CEF market valuation and performance through the third week of September and highlight recent market action. CEF market activity was mixed with tighter discounts and lower NAVs. Western Asset Investment Grade Defined Opportunity Trust's tender offer saw less than 50% shares tendered.

CEF Weekly Review: Rights Offerings Are Contingent Alpha

Duff & Phelps Global Utility Income Fund Inc

Fourteen months ago, I wrote on article that described the absurd valuation difference between two utility funds that actually had much in common. But based on the NAV and MKT yields of the funds, I felt that one fund was dramatically more attractive, even though it had just cut its distribution. Because when shareholders only care about how high a fund's market yield is while completely ignoring the fund's ability to cover it, bad things eventually happen.

In Case You Need A Reminder, Swap GUT For DPG

The Gabelli Utility Trust's 1-for-5 rights offering allows shareholders to buy additional shares at $5 each, expiring October 21, 2024. GUT trades at a 72.52% premium to NAV, making the rights valuable unless the share price drops below $5 before expiry. The rights offering is accretive, boosting GUT's NAV and supporting its high distribution rate, benefiting long-term shareholders.

GUT: 2024 Rights Offering Underway

RYE, N.Y., Aug. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Trustees of The Gabelli Utility Trust (NYSE: GUT) (the “Fund”) has approved a transferable rights offering which will allow the Fund's record date common shareholders to acquire additional common shares (the “Offering”). The Offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus, and this announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any of the Fund's securities.

Gabelli Utility Trust Announces Rights Offering for Common Shares Record Date and Summary of Terms

Gabelli Utility Trust is a closed-end fund offering high income with equity exposure, focusing on the utility sector for inflation protection. The GUT closed-end fund yields 9.95%, outperforming peer funds, but distribution history shows flat payouts for over a decade, disappointing as an inflation hedge. The fund appears to have purchased some utility common stocks during the first quarter that should have appreciated in price.

GUT: Examining The Fund's Changes Over The Past Few Months

Blackrock Health Sciences Trust

DNP Select Income Fund Inc

Gabelli Global Utility & Income Trust

Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund

Leggett & Platt

PIMCO Corporate & Income Strategy Fund

Reaves Utility Income Fund

Closed-end funds tend to cut their payouts over time due to negative consequences of leverage during market crashes, leading to potential permanent capital destruction. Today, we are looking to revisit the six funds that have inceptions prior to the 2008/09 Global Financial Crisis that have still never cut their regular distributions. A long history of no-cuts can be important for income-focused investors, but we also examine coverage and valuations to determine whether they are worth exploring further.

Closed-End Funds: 2024 Revisit Of Funds That Never Cut Distributions With Inception Pre-2008

Gabelli Utility Trust offers a high level of income for investors without sacrificing the potential upside from common stocks.

GUT: Destructive Return Of Capital Distributions Makes It Hard To Recommend This Expensive CEF

BlackRock Utilities Infrastructure & Power Opportunities Trust

Vanilla investors are freaking out that Jerome Powell & Co. won't cut rates right away.

3 Utility CEFs Paying Electric Yields Up To 11%

Gabelli Utility Trust trades at an 87% premium to net asset value, despite lagging behind the Vanguard Utilities Index Fund ETF Shares. The GUT closed-end fund's high premium is attributed to its attractive distribution yield of 11.47% and the option for shareholders to exit through rights offerings. Shorting GUT and going long on VPU is risky due to high borrowing fees, but the premium to net asset value is declining.

Gabelli Utility Trust Is Overpriced At An 87% Premium To NAV But Hard To Short

The utilities sector faced a tough year in 2023, contrary to its usual defensive nature during economic downturns. GUT displays an extremely high premium to its net asset value (NAV), currently at 109.3%. This high premium remains despite changes in the utilities sector and interest rate landscape. Rising treasury yields offer returns above 5%, making investments in utilities or high-premium CEFs like GUT less appealing compared to alternative options.

GUT: The Premium That Refuses To Die

BlackRock Energy and Resources Trust

Blackrock Long-Term Municipal Advantage Trust

ClearBridge Energy MLP Fund Inc

ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return Fund Inc

Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund Inc

BNY Mellon Municipal Bond Infrastructure Fund, Inc. 

ClearBridge Energy MLP Opportunity Fund Inc

Eaton Vance National Municipal Opportunities Trust

Aberdeen Global Income Fund

Gabelli Multimedia Trust

Nuveen Mortgage Opportunity Term Fund

Barings Corporate Investors

Nuveen California AMT-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund

PIMCO Income Strategy Fund II

Cohen & Steers Quality Income Realty Fund

Cushing MLP & Infrastructure Total Return Fund

Columbia Seligman Premium Technology Growth Func Inc

abrdn World Healthcare Fund 

XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Term Trust

19 out of 22 CEF sectors are positive on price, and 21 out of 22 sectors are positive on NAV. KYN/KMF merger completes. NXG Cushing Midstream Energy Fund rights offering begins.

Weekly Closed-End Fund Roundup: November 26, 2023

AllianceBernstein National Municipal Income Fund

BlackRock Health Sciences Trust II

Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund Inc

MFS High Yield Municipal Trust

Cornerstone Total Return Fund Inc

MFS Investment Grade Municipal Trust

Destra Multi-Alternative Fund

BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund

Eaton Vance

First Trust Energy Infrastructure Fund

FS Credit Opportunities Corp

Sprott Focus Trust

GDL Fund

Gabelli Dividend & Income Trust

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund

Highland Income Fund

Highland Global Credit Allocation Fund.

Closed-End Funds: Revisiting Valuations As We End Q3 2023

GUT has suffered losses of over 25% these past few days. Losses were due to general market weakness and an excessively elevated premium. Premiums remain excessive, however. A look at the fund's premium, and its negatives, follows.

GUT: Down 25%, Still A Strong Sell

Closed-end funds with high distribution rates and elevated premiums may be setting investors up for significant losses. Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund (GOF) and Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT) are sell candidates due to weak distribution coverage and massive near all-time high premiums. We offer some alternatives that are much better valued and offer similar or even higher distribution yields than these time bombs.

2 CEFs To Sell (GOF And GUT) With Better Replacements

RYE, N.Y., Sept. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Trustees of The Gabelli Utility Trust (NYSE: GUT) (the “Fund”) has authorized an exchange offer (the “Offer”) for all of the Fund's outstanding Series B Auction Market Preferred Shares (the “Series B Preferred Shares”).

Gabelli Utility Trust to Commence Exchange Offer For Series B Auction Market Preferred Shares

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

In 2018, we warned about premium valuations in equity CEFs before a correction and bear market occurred. We believe that the current wide discounts in many CEFs are due to institutional shareholders reducing or liquidating their exposure. The presence of ultra high premium valued funds suggests the presence of "dumb money" in CEFs and potentially in the broader markets.

Equity CEFs: Peak Insanity, Version 2023

It's been a rough year for utility stocks and utility focused CEFs as interest rates have moved up making their high dividend yields less attractive. So despite a bull market in just about everything this year, the SPDR Utility ETF (XLU) is actually down -3.5% YTD and -6.6% over the last year. Now utilities can mean a lot more than just generating, storing or transmitting electricity, particularly if you throw in infrastructure stocks like pipelines, natural gas, water, alternative energy, etc.

Equity CEFs: So DPG Cuts, But GUT Won't Have To?

The Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT) fund is trading at a 113% premium to its net asset value (NAV), despite only delivering a 6.7% average annual return over 10 years. The fund is liquidating its NAV to maintain an unsustainable 18.5% distribution yield, making a future distribution cut almost certain. Investors are advised to consider alternative utility-focused closed-end funds, such as the Cohen & Steers Infrastructure Fund, which offers a more sustainable 8.0% distribution yield.

GUT: Pay A Dollar For 50 Cents

AGNC Investment

Oxford Lane Capital

If retirement gets any better than monthly dividend payers then, well, I don't want to know about it.

3 Monthly Dividend Stocks Yielding Up To 19.5%

Bancroft Fund Ltd

Center Coast Brookfield MLP & Energy Infrastructure Fund

Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund

Blackrock ESG Capital Allocation Trust

Eagle Point Credit

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc - 6.6875% NT REDEEM 30/04/2028 USD 25

Eaton Vance Enhanced Equity Income Fund II

First Trust Dynamic Europe Equity Income Fund

Voya Global Advantage and Premium Opportunity Fund

Voya Global Equity Dividend and Premium Opportunity Fund

CBRE Global Real Estate Income Fund

Discounts/premiums are one of the most important metrics for CEFs that can provide opportunities for investors. Closed-end funds often see expanded discounts during volatile years, which we experienced in 2022.

Closed-End Fund: April 2023 Check On Valuation

Pimco Global Stockplus & Income Fund

What could go wrong with a fund near an all-time high 105% market price premium combined with a near all-time low NAV? Shareholders of the Gabelli Utility Trust may think they own a safe utility stock fund offering a very attractive 8.4% current market yield, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

News for Gabelli Utility Trust ETF (GUT)