UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORMN-CSR
CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT
INVESTMENT COMPANIES
Investment Company Act file number 811-04700
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
One Corporate Center
Rye, New York 10580-1422
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)
Bruce N. Alpert
Gabelli Funds, LLC
One Corporate Center
Rye, New York 10580-1422
(Name and address of agent for service)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: 1-800-422-3554
Date of fiscal year end: December 31
Date of reporting period: December 31, 2019
FormN-CSR is to be used by management investment companies to file reports with the Commission not later than 10 days after the transmission to stockholders of any report that is required to be transmitted to stockholders under Rule30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (17 CFR270.30e-1). The Commission may use the information provided on FormN-CSR in its regulatory, disclosure review, inspection, and policymaking roles.
A registrant is required to disclose the information specified by FormN-CSR, and the Commission will make this information public. A registrant is not required to respond to the collection of information contained in FormN-CSR unless the Form displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) control number. Please direct comments concerning the accuracy of the information collection burden estimate and any suggestions for reducing the burden to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549-0609. The OMB has reviewed this collection of information under the clearance requirements of 44 U.S.C. § 3507.
Item 1. Reports to Stockholders.
The Report to Shareholders is attached herewith.
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Annual Report — December 31, 2019
To Our Shareholders,
For the year ended December 31, 2019, the net asset value (NAV) total return of The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. (the Fund) was 24.0%, compared with total returns of 31.5% and 25.3% for the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, respectively. The total return for the Fund’s publicly traded shares was 32.2%. The Fund’s NAV per share was $5.88, while the price of the publicly traded shares closed at $6.09 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). See below for additional performance information.
Enclosed are the financial statements, including the schedule of investments, as of December 31, 2019.
Comparative Results
Average Annual Returns through December 31, 2019 (a) (Unaudited) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year | 15 Year | 20 Year | 25 Year | Since | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Gabelli Equity Trust | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NAV Total Return (b) | 24.03 | % | 8.02 | % | 12.62% | 9.08% | 7.95% | 10.17% | 10.72% | |||||||||||||||||||
Investment Total Return (c) | 32.19 | 9.81 | 13.11 | 9.07 | 8.05 | 10.14 | 10.58 | |||||||||||||||||||||
S&P 500 Index | 31.49 | 11.70 | 13.56 | 9.00 | 6.06 | 10.22 | 10.40(d) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Dow Jones Industrial Average | 25.26 | 12.54 | 13.34 | 9.42 | 7.17 | 10.89 | 11.29(d) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Nasdaq Composite Index | 36.74 | 15.00 | 16.14 | 11.14 | 5.07 | 11.38 | 10.63(e) |
(a) | Returns represent past performance and do not guarantee future results. Investment returns and the principal value of an investment will fluctuate. The Fund’s use of leverage may magnify the volatility of net asset value changes versus funds that do not employ leverage. When shares are sold, they may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data presented. Visit www.gabelli.com for performance information as of the most recent month end. Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fund before investing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an unmanaged index of 30 large capitalization stocks.The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Indices are unmanaged indicators of stock market performance. Dividends are considered reinvested except for the Nasdaq Composite Index. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
(b) | Total returns and average annual returns reflect changes in the NAV per share, reinvestment of distributions at NAV on theex-dividend date, adjustments for rights offerings, spin-offs, and taxes paid on undistributed long term capital gains and are net of expenses. Since inception return is based on an initial NAV of $9.34. |
(c) | Total returns and average annual returns reflect changes in closing market values on the NYSE, reinvestment of distributions, and adjustments for rights offerings, spin-offs, and taxes paid on undistributed long term capital gains. Since inception return is based on an initial offering price of $10.00. |
(d) | From August 31, 1986, the date closest to the Fund’s inception for which data are available. |
(e) | From September 30, 1986, the date closest to the Fund’s inception for which data are available. |
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the Fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports. Instead, the reports will be made available on the Fund’s website (www.gabelli.com), and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report. If you already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. To elect to receive all future reports on paper free of charge, please contact your financial intermediary, or, if you invest directly with the Fund, you may call800-422-3554 or send an email request to info@gabelli.com.
Summary of Portfolio Holdings (Unaudited)
The following table presents portfolio holdings as a percent of total investments as of December 31, 2019:
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Food and Beverage | 11.2 | % | ||
Financial Services | 10.7 | % | ||
Equipment and Supplies | 7.2 | % | ||
Entertainment | 5.6 | % | ||
Health Care | 5.2 | % | ||
Diversified Industrial | 5.0 | % | ||
Consumer Products | 4.2 | % | ||
Consumer Services | 4.0 | % | ||
Business Services | 3.9 | % | ||
Energy and Utilities | 3.7 | % | ||
U.S. Government Obligations | 3.5 | % | ||
Automotive: Parts and Accessories | 3.3 | % | ||
Cable and Satellite | 3.1 | % | ||
Machinery | 2.6 | % | ||
Electronics | 2.6 | % | ||
Broadcasting | 2.4 | % | ||
Retail | 2.4 | % | ||
Aerospace and Defense | 2.3 | % | ||
Telecommunications | 2.2 | % |
Specialty Chemicals | 2.0 | % | ||
Environmental Services | 2.0 | % | ||
Hotels and Gaming | 1.8 | % | ||
Aviation: Parts and Services | 1.7 | % | ||
Computer Software and Services | 1.2 | % | ||
Building and Construction | 1.0 | % | ||
Wireless Communications | 0.9 | % | ||
Automotive | 0.7 | % | ||
Metals and Mining | 0.7 | % | ||
Transportation | 0.5 | % | ||
Real Estate | 0.5 | % | ||
Agriculture | 0.5 | % | ||
Publishing | 0.4 | % | ||
Communications Equipment | 0.4 | % | ||
Closed-End Funds | 0.4 | % | ||
Manufactured Housing and Recreational Vehicles | 0.2 | % | ||
|
| |||
100.0 | % | |||
|
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The Fund files a complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on FormN-PORT. Shareholders may obtain this information at www.gabelli.com or by calling the Fund at800-GABELLI(800-422-3554). The Fund’s FormN-PORT is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and may also be reviewed and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, DC. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling800-SEC-0330.
Proxy Voting
The Fund files FormN-PX with its complete proxy voting record for the twelve months ended June 30, no later than August 31 of each year. A description of the Fund’s proxy voting policies, procedures, and how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by (i) calling800-GABELLI(800-422-3554); (ii) writing to The Gabelli Funds at One Corporate Center, Rye, NY 10580-1422; or (iii) visiting the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
We have separated the portfolio managers’ commentary from the financial statements and investment portfolio due to corporate governance regulations stipulated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We have done this to ensure that the content of the portfolio managers’ commentary is unrestricted. Both the commentary and the financial statements, including the portfolio of investments, will be available on our website at www.gabelli.com.
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2
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Portfolio Changes — Six Months Ended December 31, 2019 (Unaudited)
Shares | Ownership at December 31, 2019 | |||||||
NET PURCHASES | ||||||||
Common Stocks | ||||||||
ABIOMED Inc. | 2,000 | 2,000 | ||||||
Acadia Healthcare Co. Inc. | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||
Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1,000 | 2,000 | ||||||
Alimera Sciences Inc.(a) | 4,000 | 4,000 | ||||||
Alphabet Inc., Cl. C | 4,500 | 7,500 | ||||||
AMC Networks Inc., Cl. A | 2,600 | 248,200 | ||||||
Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp. | 15,000 | 175,000 | ||||||
Apollo Global Management Inc. | 16,000 | 16,000 | ||||||
Avanos Medical Inc. | 1,000 | 1,000 | ||||||
Axogen Inc. | 17,497 | 27,097 | ||||||
Bel Fuse Inc., Cl. A | 14,000 | 34,000 | ||||||
BioTelemetry Inc. | 2,000 | 10,000 | ||||||
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.(b) | 1,500 | 151,000 | ||||||
California Resources Corp. | 50,000 | 50,000 | ||||||
Citigroup Inc. | 9,000 | 106,000 | ||||||
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. | 220,000 | 400,035 | ||||||
Colfax Corp. | 25,000 | 50,000 | ||||||
Comcast Corp., Cl. A | 22,000 | 215,000 | ||||||
ConforMIS Inc. | 30,000 | 134,056 | ||||||
Covetrus Inc. | 16,900 | 85,900 | ||||||
Diebold Nixdorf Inc. | 29,500 | 257,500 | ||||||
DISH Network Corp., Cl. A(c)(d) | 8,242 | 108,642 | ||||||
DuPont de Nemours Inc. | 56,667 | 95,000 | ||||||
E*TRADE Financial Corp. | 15,000 | 15,000 | ||||||
Eagle Bancorp Inc. | 3,000 | 3,000 | ||||||
EchoStar Corp., Cl. A(c) | 1,500 | 50,433 | ||||||
Edgewell Personal Care Co. | 24,000 | 229,000 | ||||||
Emerald Expositions Events Inc. | 3,000 | 30,000 | ||||||
Energizer Holdings Inc. | 25,000 | 192,000 | ||||||
Exact Sciences Corp. | 2,500 | 2,500 | ||||||
Expedia Group Inc. | 591 | 591 | ||||||
Ferro Corp. | 55,300 | 445,300 | ||||||
Fiserv Inc. | 12,120 | 12,120 | ||||||
GAM Holding AG | 6,000 | 36,000 | ||||||
GCP Applied Technologies Inc. | 17,000 | 78,500 | ||||||
Groupon Inc. | 25,000 | 250,000 | ||||||
Grupo Televisa SAB | 5,000 | 591,000 | ||||||
H&R Block Inc. | 5,000 | 55,000 | ||||||
Hertz Global Holdings Inc. | 140,000 | 350,000 | ||||||
Hubbell Inc. | 13,000 | 13,000 | ||||||
ICU Medical Inc. | 2,000 | 2,500 | ||||||
Internap Corp. | 105,600 | 621,474 | ||||||
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | 2,500 | 55,500 | ||||||
Intersect ENT Inc. | 2,000 | 2,000 | ||||||
IRIDEX Corp. | 5,000 | 15,000 | ||||||
JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 1,000 | 62,400 | ||||||
Kinnevik AB, Cl. A | 29,800 | 29,800 | ||||||
KLX Energy Services Holdings Inc. | 44,369 | 104,984 | ||||||
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||
Liberty Media Corp.-Liberty SiriusXM, Cl. A | 5,000 | 163,000 |
Shares | Ownership at December 31, 2019 | |||||||
Livent Corp. | 4,700 | 14,053 | ||||||
Loral Space & Communications Inc. | 10,000 | 55,000 | ||||||
Lowe’s Companies Inc. | 11,000 | 45,000 | ||||||
Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. | 54,102 | 154,102 | ||||||
Meredith Corp. | 20,000 | 107,700 | ||||||
Meridian Bioscience Inc. | 1,000 | 6,500 | ||||||
Merit Medical Systems Inc. | 7,000 | 7,000 | ||||||
Myriad Genetics Inc. | 1,000 | 5,000 | ||||||
Naspers Ltd., Cl. N(e) | 1,000 | 4,000 | ||||||
Nektar Therapeutics | 1,000 | 6,000 | ||||||
Neuronetics Inc. | 10,000 | 19,500 | ||||||
NextEra Energy Partners LP | 31,000 | 39,000 | ||||||
Occidental Petroleum Corp.(f) | 6,968 | 6,968 | ||||||
Option Care Health Inc. | 1,804,318 | 1,804,318 | ||||||
Orthofix Medical Inc. | 1,000 | 3,000 | ||||||
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. | 40,000 | 147,500 | ||||||
PetIQ Inc. | 610 | 43,610 | ||||||
Prosus NV(e) | 3,000 | 3,000 | ||||||
Qurate Retail Inc., Cl. A | 23,735 | 265,000 | ||||||
Resideo Technologies Inc. | 94,666 | 205,000 | ||||||
Rockwell Medical Inc. | 10,000 | 26,121 | ||||||
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Cl. C | 55,614,000 | 55,614,000 | ||||||
Schlumberger Ltd. | 60,000 | 60,000 | ||||||
Sculptor Capital Management Inc.(g) | 6,000 | 6,000 | ||||||
SeaSpine Holdings Corp. | 956 | 956 | ||||||
ServiceMaster Global Holdings Inc. | 34,000 | 65,000 | ||||||
Signature Aviation plc(h) | 997,242 | 997,242 | ||||||
SmileDirectClub Inc. | 13,700 | 13,700 | ||||||
Soliton Inc. | 762 | 762 | ||||||
Sony Corp. | 25,000 | 25,000 | ||||||
Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. | 2,205 | 2,205 | ||||||
Superior Industries International Inc. | 38,440 | 106,440 | ||||||
Tallgrass Energy LP, Cl. A | 100,000 | 100,000 | ||||||
Textron Inc. | 6,000 | 90,000 | ||||||
The Blackstone Group Inc., Cl. A | 2,000 | 30,000 | ||||||
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||
The Hain Celestial Group Inc. | 3,000 | 75,000 | ||||||
The St. Joe Co. | 803 | 325,803 | ||||||
The Walt Disney Co. | 4,000 | 107,000 | ||||||
T-Mobile US Inc. | 7,400 | 32,400 | ||||||
Truist Financial Corp. | 19,425 | 19,425 | ||||||
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. | 1,500 | 1,500 | ||||||
ViacomCBS Inc., Cl. A(i) | 437,992 | 437,992 | ||||||
ViacomCBS Inc., Cl. B(i) | 40,000 | 40,000 | ||||||
Wells Fargo & Co. | 2,000 | 232,000 | ||||||
WW International Inc.(j) | 8,000 | 8,000 | ||||||
Closed-End Funds | ||||||||
Altaba Inc., Escrow | 95,000 | 95,000 | ||||||
Rights | ||||||||
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., CVR(b) | 1,500 | 1,500 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
3
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Portfolio Changes (Continued) — Six Months Ended December 31, 2019 (Unaudited)
Shares | Ownership at December 31, 2019 | |||||||||
NET SALES | ||||||||||
Common Stocks | ||||||||||
ABB Ltd. | (11,000 | ) | - | |||||||
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. | (6,000 | ) | 500 | |||||||
Acuity Brands Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 7,000 | |||||||
Adient plc | (8,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. | (3,000 | ) | 272,000 | |||||||
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. | (3,000 | ) | 9,000 | |||||||
Allegion plc | (3,334 | ) | 11,000 | |||||||
Allergan plc | (10,300 | ) | 4,000 | |||||||
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | (7,500 | ) | - | |||||||
American Express Co. | (10,000 | ) | 335,000 | |||||||
AMETEK Inc. | (21,000 | ) | 377,000 | |||||||
Amgen Inc. | (7,000 | ) | 25,000 | |||||||
Anadarko Petroleum Corp.(f) | (27,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Apache Corp. | (5,000 | ) | 45,000 | |||||||
Aptiv plc | (6,000 | ) | 3,500 | |||||||
Arconic Inc. | (16,000 | ) | 14,000 | |||||||
Arcosa Inc. | (1,333 | ) | 27,000 | |||||||
Armstrong Flooring Inc. | (15,000 | ) | 63,210 | |||||||
AT&T Inc. | (41,452 | ) | 67,000 | |||||||
AtriCure Inc. | (2,200 | ) | - | |||||||
AutoNation Inc. | (4,000 | ) | 76,300 | |||||||
Avon Products Inc. | (100,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | (3,000 | ) | 19,000 | |||||||
Baker Hughes Co. | (20,000 | ) | 60,000 | |||||||
Bausch Health Cos. Inc. | (1,000 | ) | - | |||||||
BBA Aviation plc(h) | (1,246,553 | ) | - | |||||||
Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Cl. A | (2 | ) | 111 | |||||||
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 500 | |||||||
BioScrip Inc. | (2,766,451 | ) | - | |||||||
Blucora Inc. | (13,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Boston Scientific Corp. | (27,000 | ) | 183,000 | |||||||
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.(b) | (4,000 | ) | 151,000 | |||||||
Brown-Forman Corp., Cl. A | (1,400 | ) | 103,800 | |||||||
CBS Corp.(i) | (251,000 | ) | - | |||||||
CBS Corp.(i) | (20,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Celgene Corp.(b) | (1,500 | ) | - | |||||||
CenturyLink Inc. | (50,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Charter Communications Inc., Cl. A | (5,700 | ) | 20,658 | |||||||
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. | (100 | ) | 5,400 | |||||||
Cigna Corp. | (4,868 | ) | - | |||||||
Cincinnati Bell Inc. | (3,000 | ) | 70,000 | |||||||
CIRCOR International Inc. | (20,428 | ) | 107,163 | |||||||
Clovis Oncology Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 30,400 | |||||||
Conagra Brands Inc. | (25,000 | ) | 240,000 | |||||||
Constellation Brands Inc., Cl. A | (1,000 | ) | 29,000 | |||||||
Corning Inc. | (35,000 | ) | 240,000 | |||||||
Corteva Inc. | (15,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Costco Wholesale Corp. | (2,500 | ) | 38,500 | |||||||
Crane Co. | (2,000 | ) | 168,100 | |||||||
CRISPR Therapeutics AG | (500 | ) | 500 |
Shares | Ownership at December 31, 2019 | |||||||||
Curtiss-Wright Corp. | (20,300 | ) | 203,000 | |||||||
CVS Health Corp. | (1,000 | ) | 84,000 | |||||||
Danone SA | (5,000 | ) | 191,500 | |||||||
Deere & Co. | (10,000 | ) | 165,000 | |||||||
Dermira Inc. | (6,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Diageo plc | (9,000 | ) | 118,000 | |||||||
Donaldson Co. Inc. | (20,800 | ) | 305,000 | |||||||
Dow Inc. | (18,333 | ) | 10,000 | |||||||
Editas Medicine Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 1,000 | |||||||
El Paso Electric Co. | (25,000 | ) | 175,000 | |||||||
Electromed Inc. | (14,600 | ) | 10,667 | |||||||
EnPro Industries Inc. | (3,000 | ) | 7,000 | |||||||
Valaris plc | (60,062 | ) | 19,000 | |||||||
Entertainment One Ltd. | (50,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Eversource Energy | (2,000 | ) | 22,000 | |||||||
Evolus Inc. | (1,500 | ) | 3,000 | |||||||
Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. | (2,296 | ) | - | |||||||
Exxon Mobil Corp. | (5,600 | ) | 46,000 | |||||||
First Data Corp. | (40,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc. | (5,000 | ) | 75,000 | |||||||
Fox Corp., Cl. B | (22,666 | ) | 112,333 | |||||||
G1 Therapeutics Inc. | (500 | ) | 1,500 | |||||||
Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. | (5,000 | ) | 10,000 | |||||||
GCI Liberty Inc., Cl. A | (22,435 | ) | 56,500 | |||||||
General Electric Co. | (60,000 | ) | 160,000 | |||||||
Genuine Parts Co. | (5,700 | ) | 242,500 | |||||||
Globus Medical Inc. | (1,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Gogo Inc. | (187,721 | ) | 116,561 | |||||||
Griffon Corp. | (7,000 | ) | 68,000 | |||||||
Halliburton Co. | (10,000 | ) | 241,700 | |||||||
Herc Holdings Inc. | (20,432 | ) | 189,803 | |||||||
Honeywell International Inc. | (37,000 | ) | 257,000 | |||||||
IDEX Corp. | (23,500 | ) | 185,500 | |||||||
Ingredion Inc. | (500 | ) | 10,500 | |||||||
Inogen Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 5,900 | |||||||
Intelsat SA | (25,000 | ) | - | |||||||
InterXion Holding NV | (1,000 | ) | 21,000 | |||||||
ITT Inc. | (4,000 | ) | 93,000 | |||||||
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. | (40,000 | ) | 20,000 | |||||||
Janus Henderson Group plc | (10,000 | ) | 70,000 | |||||||
Johnson & Johnson | (2,000 | ) | 35,000 | |||||||
Johnson Controls International plc | (5,000 | ) | 267,528 | |||||||
Kennametal Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 39,000 | |||||||
Kerry Group plc, Cl. A | (600 | ) | 61,500 | |||||||
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. | (44,400 | ) | 28,000 | |||||||
Kinnevik AB, Cl. B | (29,800 | ) | - | |||||||
Koninklijke Philips NV | (1,170 | ) | 33,000 | |||||||
L3Harris Technologies Inc. | (3,000 | ) | 12,001 | |||||||
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc. | (30,000 | ) | 20,000 | |||||||
Lannett Co. Inc. | (10,754 | ) | 17,569 | |||||||
Las Vegas Sands Corp. | (12,000 | ) | 22,000 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
4
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Portfolio Changes (Continued) — Six Months Ended December 31, 2019 (Unaudited)
Shares | Ownership at December 31, 2019 | |||||||||
LeMaitre Vascular Inc. | (600 | ) | - | |||||||
Lennar Corp., Cl. A | (10,000 | ) | 7,500 | |||||||
Liberty Expedia Holdings Inc. | (18,642 | ) | - | |||||||
Liberty Global plc, Cl. C | (62,000 | ) | 264,064 | |||||||
Liberty Media Corp.-Liberty Formula One, Cl. A | (11,719 | ) | 76,331 | |||||||
Liq Participacoes SA(k) | (1,934 | ) | 66 | |||||||
LivaNova plc | (500 | ) | 500 | |||||||
Macy’s Inc. | (60,000 | ) | 235,000 | |||||||
Marathon Petroleum Corp. | (14,000 | ) | 8,000 | |||||||
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp. | (2,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. | (10,000 | ) | 90,000 | |||||||
Mastercard Inc., Cl. A | (74,500 | ) | 170,000 | |||||||
Matthews International Corp., Cl. A | (1,000 | ) | 17,000 | |||||||
MGM Resorts International | (18,000 | ) | 218,000 | |||||||
Millicom International Cellular SA | (11,000 | ) | 88,000 | |||||||
Mondelēz International Inc., Cl. A | (27,000 | ) | 313,000 | |||||||
MSG Networks Inc., Cl. A | (15,000 | ) | 267,600 | |||||||
Mueller Water Products Inc., Cl. A | (45,300 | ) | 254,700 | |||||||
Murphy USA Inc. | (5,000 | ) | 15,000 | |||||||
Natus Medical Inc. | (2,427 | ) | - | |||||||
Nevro Corp. | (3,000 | ) | - | |||||||
New York Community Bancorp Inc. | (80,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Newell Brands Inc. | (33,400 | ) | 31,600 | |||||||
Nexstar Media Group Inc.,Cl. A | (1,000 | ) | 14,000 | |||||||
Nilfisk Holding A/S | (6,000 | ) | - | |||||||
NuVasive Inc. | (2,900 | ) | 1,500 | |||||||
Nuvectra Corp. | (3,000 | ) | - | |||||||
nVent Electric plc | (5,000 | ) | 30,000 | |||||||
Och-Ziff Capital Management Group Inc.(g) | (4,500 | ) | - | |||||||
OMNOVA Solutions Inc. | (80,000 | ) | 170,000 | |||||||
O’Reilly Automotive Inc. | (8,500 | ) | 51,500 | |||||||
Patterson Cos. Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 8,859 | |||||||
Penske Automotive Group Inc. | (7,000 | ) | - | |||||||
PepsiCo Inc. | (7,000 | ) | 151,000 | |||||||
PetMed Express Inc. | (15,521 | ) | 1,279 | |||||||
Phillips 66 | (6,100 | ) | 36,000 | |||||||
Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. | (1,037 | ) | - | |||||||
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. | (500 | ) | - | |||||||
Republic Services Inc. | (4,100 | ) | 233,000 | |||||||
Rogers Communications Inc., Cl. B | (30,200 | ) | 417,000 | |||||||
Rollins Inc. | (57,000 | ) | 1,828,000 | |||||||
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Cl. C | (85,839,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. | (24,000 | ) | 144,800 | |||||||
S&P Global Inc. | (4,000 | ) | 58,000 | |||||||
Sensient Technologies Corp. | (9,900 | ) | 134,900 | |||||||
Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd. | (5,429 | ) | 71 | |||||||
Stericycle Inc. | (3,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Sulzer AG | (500 | ) | 11,000 | |||||||
SunTrust Banks Inc. | (15,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Swedish Match AB | (48,000 | ) | 766,900 | |||||||
Tandem Diabetes Care Inc. | (2,135 | ) | - |
Shares | Ownership at December 31, 2019 | |||||||||
Telephone & Data Systems Inc. | (20,000 | ) | 533,700 | |||||||
Tenaris SA | (15,000 | ) | 30,000 | |||||||
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. | (5,000 | ) | 8,000 | |||||||
Texas Instruments Inc. | (18,000 | ) | 209,000 | |||||||
The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. | (30,000 | ) | 182,500 | |||||||
The Charles Schwab Corp. | (20,000 | ) | - | |||||||
The Coca-Cola Co. | (10,000 | ) | 79,600 | |||||||
The Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. | (16,000 | ) | 244,000 | |||||||
The J.M. Smucker Co. | (1,000 | ) | 17,500 | |||||||
The Kraft Heinz Co. | (30,000 | ) | 15,000 | |||||||
The Madison Square Garden Co., Cl. A | (6,000 | ) | 97,867 | |||||||
Tiffany & Co. | (2,500 | ) | - | |||||||
TimkenSteel Corp. | (20,000 | ) | 180,000 | |||||||
Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. | (1,500 | ) | 137,000 | |||||||
Tribune Media Co. | (3,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. | (40,000 | ) | 100,000 | |||||||
USANA Health Sciences Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 2,400 | |||||||
Viacom Inc., Cl. A | (313,615 | ) | - | |||||||
Viacom Inc., Cl. B | (5,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Visteon Corp. | (12,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. | (10,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Waddell & Reed Financial Inc., Cl. A | (10,000 | ) | 160,000 | |||||||
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | (1,000 | ) | 63,000 | |||||||
Walmart Inc. | (2,000 | ) | 30,000 | |||||||
Waste Management Inc. | (4,000 | ) | 141,600 | |||||||
Watts Water Technologies Inc., Cl. A | (5,000 | ) | 121,000 | |||||||
Weatherford International plc | (712,300 | ) | - | |||||||
Weight Watchers International Inc.(j) | (9,500 | ) | - | |||||||
Welbilt Inc. | (4,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Xylem Inc. | (10,000 | ) | 210,000 | |||||||
Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd. | (6,000 | ) | 335,000 | |||||||
Zayo Group Holdings Inc. | (30,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. | (3,000 | ) | 10,500 | |||||||
Zoetis Inc. | (800 | ) | 31,200 | |||||||
Closed-End Funds | ||||||||||
Altaba Inc. | (122,000 | ) | - | |||||||
Rights | ||||||||||
Hertz Global Holdings Inc., expire 07/12/2019 | (210,000 | ) | - |
(a) | Reverse Stock Split and Identifier Change - 1 new share of Alimera Sciences (016259202) for every 15 old shares of Alimera Sciences Inc. ( 016259103) held. |
(b) | Merger - 1 new share of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (110122108) plus 1 new share of Bristol-Myers Squibb CVR (110122157) for every 1 share held of Celgene Corp. (15102q104) held. 4,000 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. were sold before the Merger and 1,500 shares after the merger. |
(c) | Spin-off - Echostar Corp. (278768106) - received 0.2352377159 shares of Dish Network Corp. Cl. A for every 1 Dish Network Corp. share held. 22,118 shares of Echostar Corp. were sold after the spin off. |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
5
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Portfolio Changes (Continued) — Six Months Ended December 31, 2019 (Unaudited)
(d) | Rights issue - 0.0541271989 rights for every 1 share of Dish Network Corp. (25470M109) held. |
(e) | Capitalization issue - 1 New Prosus NV (BJDS7L3) share for every 1 Naspers Ltd. Cl. N (6622691) held. 1,000 shares were purchased after the capitalization issue. |
(f) | Merger - 0.2934 of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (674599105) shares for every 1 share of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (32511107) held. 1,100 shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp. were purchased and 2,053 shares were sold after the merger. |
(g) | Name and Security Identifier Change - Och-Ziff Capital Management Group Inc. (67551U204) changed to Sculptor Capital Management Inc. (811246107). |
(h) | Special Dividend and Share Consolidation - 4 new shares of Signature Aviation plc (BKDM7X4) for every 5 shares of BBA Aviation plc (B1FP891) held. |
(i) | Merger with name and identifier change - ViacomCBS Inc. to CBS Corp. |
(j) | Name and Security Identifier Change - Weight Watchers International Inc. (948626106) changed to WW International Inc. (98262P101). 1,500 shares of WW International Inc. were sold after the Name and Security Identifier Change. |
(k) | Reverse Stock Split - 1 New Share of Liq Participacoes SA (BK5HW4W5) for every 30 old shares held. |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
6
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Schedule of Investments — December 31, 2019
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
COMMON STOCKS — 96.1% |
| |||||||||||
Food and Beverage — 11.2% |
| |||||||||||
3,000 | Ajinomoto Co. Inc. | $ | 52,866 | $ | 50,113 | |||||||
103,800 | Brown-Forman Corp., Cl. A | 1,443,462 | 6,515,526 | |||||||||
49,300 | Brown-Forman Corp., Cl. B | 1,130,138 | 3,332,680 | |||||||||
63,800 | Campbell Soup Co. | 1,781,130 | 3,152,996 | |||||||||
65,000 | Chr. Hansen Holding A/S | 2,725,303 | 5,165,382 | |||||||||
15,000 | Coca-Cola European Partners plc | 275,290 | 763,200 | |||||||||
240,000 | Conagra Brands Inc. | 6,772,900 | 8,217,600 | |||||||||
29,000 | Constellation Brands Inc., Cl. A | 363,724 | 5,502,750 | |||||||||
18,000 | Crimson Wine Group Ltd.† | 91,848 | 133,200 | |||||||||
191,500 | Danone SA | 9,287,329 | 15,874,201 | |||||||||
1,277,600 | Davide Campari-Milano SpA | 3,843,247 | 11,665,355 | |||||||||
118,000 | Diageo plc, ADR | 12,757,764 | 19,873,560 | |||||||||
80,000 | Flowers Foods Inc. | 263,976 | 1,739,200 | |||||||||
77,800 | Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB de CV, ADR | 3,108,750 | 7,352,878 | |||||||||
40,000 | General Mills Inc. | 1,885,325 | 2,142,400 | |||||||||
1,848,400 | Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV, Cl. A | 2,624,248 | 3,367,837 | |||||||||
41,300 | Heineken NV | 1,962,995 | 4,397,303 | |||||||||
10,500 | Ingredion Inc. | 496,176 | 975,975 | |||||||||
105,000 | ITO EN Ltd. | 2,422,898 | 5,295,661 | |||||||||
27,000 | Kellogg Co. | 1,838,282 | 1,867,320 | |||||||||
61,500 | Kerry Group plc, Cl. A | 707,201 | 7,588,334 | |||||||||
28,000 | Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. | 714,930 | 810,600 | |||||||||
20,000 | Lamb Weston Holdings Inc. | 732,298 | 1,720,600 | |||||||||
9,700 | LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE | 335,341 | 4,506,719 | |||||||||
20,000 | Maple Leaf Foods Inc. | 365,417 | 398,598 | |||||||||
60,000 | Molson Coors Beverage Co., Cl. B | 3,751,665 | 3,234,000 | |||||||||
313,000 | Mondelēz International Inc., Cl. A | 12,801,737 | 17,240,040 | |||||||||
14,000 | Morinaga Milk Industry Co. Ltd. | 299,202 | 573,374 | |||||||||
41,000 | Nestlé SA | 1,791,828 | 4,438,913 | |||||||||
151,000 | PepsiCo Inc. | 14,191,249 | 20,637,170 | |||||||||
39,200 | Pernod Ricard SA | 3,228,300 | 7,008,951 | |||||||||
31,000 | Post Holdings Inc.† | 2,883,605 | 3,382,100 | |||||||||
41,500 | Remy Cointreau SA | 2,589,709 | 5,097,308 | |||||||||
79,600 | The Coca-Cola Co. | 2,646,441 | 4,405,860 | |||||||||
75,000 | The Hain Celestial Group Inc.† | 1,883,218 | 1,946,625 | |||||||||
17,500 | The J.M. Smucker Co. | 1,775,340 | 1,822,275 | |||||||||
15,000 | The Kraft Heinz Co. | 438,316 | 481,950 | |||||||||
137,000 | Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. | 1,739,177 | 4,677,180 | |||||||||
48,000 | Tyson Foods Inc., Cl. A | 397,211 | 4,369,920 | |||||||||
335,000 | Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd. | 9,566,219 | 18,591,413 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
117,966,055 | 220,317,067 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
Financial Services — 10.7% |
| |||||||||||
335,000 | American Express Co.(a) | $ | 30,167,379 | $ | 41,704,150 | |||||||
25,000 | American International Group Inc. | 1,374,505 | 1,283,250 | |||||||||
16,000 | Apollo Global Management Inc. | 513,433 | 763,360 | |||||||||
16,000 | Argo Group International Holdings Ltd. | 371,865 | 1,052,000 | |||||||||
72,585 | Banco Santander SA, ADR | 548,401 | 300,502 | |||||||||
90,000 | Bank of America Corp. | 2,725,874 | 3,169,800 | |||||||||
111 | Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Cl. A† | 999,116 | 37,694,490 | |||||||||
11,000 | CIT Group Inc. | 479,878 | 501,930 | |||||||||
106,000 | Citigroup Inc. | 6,222,087 | 8,468,340 | |||||||||
5,000 | Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. | 361,440 | 488,900 | |||||||||
30,000 | Deutsche Bank AG | 221,322 | 233,400 | |||||||||
15,000 | E*TRADE Financial Corp. | 593,626 | 680,550 | |||||||||
3,000 | Eagle Bancorp Inc. | 122,179 | 145,890 | |||||||||
30,000 | Fidelity National Financial Inc. | 1,064,754 | 1,360,500 | |||||||||
36,000 | GAM Holding AG† | 149,463 | 104,303 | |||||||||
55,000 | H&R Block Inc. | 1,340,926 | 1,291,400 | |||||||||
5,000 | I3 Verticals Inc., Cl. A† | 75,042 | 141,250 | |||||||||
40,000 | Interactive Brokers Group Inc., Cl. A | 643,310 | 1,864,800 | |||||||||
70,000 | Janus Henderson Group plc | 2,173,221 | 1,711,500 | |||||||||
88,000 | Jefferies Financial Group Inc. | 1,259,355 | 1,880,560 | |||||||||
62,400 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 3,355,416 | 8,698,560 | |||||||||
29,800 | Kinnevik AB, Cl. A | 494,015 | 758,812 | |||||||||
140,000 | Legg Mason Inc. | 4,025,995 | 5,027,400 | |||||||||
14,000 | Loews Corp. | 558,454 | 734,860 | |||||||||
90,000 | Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. | 3,715,956 | 10,026,900 | |||||||||
9,000 | Moody’s Corp. | 312,150 | 2,136,690 | |||||||||
20,000 | PayPal Holdings Inc.† | 1,422,380 | 2,163,400 | |||||||||
3,000 | Prosus NV† | 251,711 | 223,881 | |||||||||
58,000 | S&P Global Inc. | 4,003,340 | 15,836,900 | |||||||||
6,000 | Sculptor Capital Management Inc. | 122,600 | 132,600 | |||||||||
161,100 | State Street Corp. | 8,115,787 | 12,743,010 | |||||||||
112,400 | T. Rowe Price Group Inc. | 7,509,890 | 13,694,816 | |||||||||
182,500 | The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. | 5,673,043 | 9,185,225 | |||||||||
30,000 | The Blackstone Group Inc., Cl. A | 1,075,349 | 1,678,200 | |||||||||
10,000 | The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | 2,133,892 | 2,299,300 | |||||||||
17,000 | The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. | 1,867,763 | 2,713,710 | |||||||||
3,000 | TransUnion | 128,898 | 256,830 | |||||||||
19,425 | Truist Financial Corp. | 316,604 | 1,094,016 | |||||||||
15,500 | W. R. Berkley Corp. | 380,920 | 1,071,050 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
7
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Schedule of Investments (Continued) — December 31, 2019
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
COMMON STOCKS (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
Financial Services (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
160,000 | Waddell & Reed Financial Inc., Cl. A | $ | 3,664,824 | $ | 2,675,200 | |||||||
232,000 | Wells Fargo & Co. | 7,315,475 | 12,481,600 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
107,851,638 | 210,473,835 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Equipment and Supplies — 7.2% |
| |||||||||||
377,000 | AMETEK Inc. | 17,391,487 | 37,601,980 | |||||||||
7,000 | Amphenol Corp., Cl. A | 12,928 | 757,610 | |||||||||
4,000 | Ardagh Group SA | 59,723 | 78,320 | |||||||||
107,163 | CIRCOR International Inc.† | 4,308,000 | 4,955,217 | |||||||||
305,000 | Donaldson Co. Inc. | 9,221,973 | 17,574,100 | |||||||||
252,000 | Flowserve Corp. | 8,315,797 | 12,542,040 | |||||||||
37,400 | Franklin Electric Co. Inc. | 215,706 | 2,143,768 | |||||||||
13,000 | Hubbell Inc. | 1,726,906 | 1,921,660 | |||||||||
185,500 | IDEX Corp. | 20,621,834 | 31,906,000 | |||||||||
43,000 | Ingersoll-Rand plc | 1,283,683 | 5,715,560 | |||||||||
100,000 | Mueller Industries Inc. | 2,565,501 | 3,175,000 | |||||||||
254,700 | Mueller Water Products Inc., Cl. A | 2,754,349 | 3,051,306 | |||||||||
13,000 | Sealed Air Corp. | 208,280 | 517,790 | |||||||||
30,000 | Tenaris SA, ADR | 1,249,301 | 679,200 | |||||||||
80,000 | The Timken Co. | 3,018,718 | 4,504,800 | |||||||||
59,600 | The Weir Group plc | 250,790 | 1,191,700 | |||||||||
121,000 | Watts Water Technologies Inc., Cl. A | 5,589,084 | 12,070,960 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
78,794,060 | 140,387,011 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Entertainment — 5.6% |
| |||||||||||
20,658 | Charter Communications Inc., Cl. A† | 6,180,680 | 10,020,783 | |||||||||
41,600 | Discovery Inc., Cl. A† | 1,391,742 | 1,361,984 | |||||||||
309,800 | Discovery Inc., Cl. C† | 5,276,607 | 9,445,802 | |||||||||
418,000 | Dover Motorsports Inc. | 856,900 | 777,480 | |||||||||
90,000 | Genting Singapore Ltd. | 74,910 | 61,564 | |||||||||
591,000 | Grupo Televisa SAB, ADR | 9,025,091 | 6,932,430 | |||||||||
21,500 | Liberty Media Corp.- Liberty Braves, Cl. A† | 479,343 | 637,475 | |||||||||
95,758 | Liberty Media Corp.- Liberty Braves, Cl. C† | 1,739,854 | 2,828,691 | |||||||||
46,545 | Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Cl. B† | 1,214,824 | 462,192 | |||||||||
10,000 | Live Nation Entertainment Inc.† | 498,254 | 714,700 | |||||||||
10,000 | Reading International Inc., Cl. A† | 155,401 | 111,900 | |||||||||
8,000 | Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.† | 809,673 | 979,440 | |||||||||
97,867 | The Madison Square Garden Co., Cl. A† | 11,257,054 | 28,791,493 | |||||||||
107,000 | The Walt Disney Co. | 8,758,019 | 15,475,410 |
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
40,000 | Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings Inc. | $ | 796,181 | $ | 686,945 | |||||||
65,000 | Universal Entertainment Corp. | 931,984 | 2,222,401 | |||||||||
437,992 | ViacomCBS Inc., Cl. A | 21,789,303 | 19,652,701 | |||||||||
40,000 | ViacomCBS Inc., Cl. B | 1,980,180 | 1,678,800 | |||||||||
240,000 | Vivendi SA | 5,803,696 | 6,950,981 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
79,019,696 | 109,793,172 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Health Care — 5.2% |
| |||||||||||
2,000 | ABIOMED Inc.† | 339,938 | 341,180 | |||||||||
10,000 | Acadia Healthcare Co. Inc.† | 315,273 | 332,200 | |||||||||
500 | ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.† | 6,510 | 21,390 | |||||||||
10,411 | Acorda Therapeutics Inc.† | 186,064 | 21,238 | |||||||||
2,000 | Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc.† | 54,487 | 48,340 | |||||||||
20,000 | Akorn Inc.† | 110,205 | 30,000 | |||||||||
16,200 | Alcon Inc.† | 574,003 | 916,434 | |||||||||
4,000 | Alimera Sciences Inc.† | 18,900 | 30,320 | |||||||||
2,000 | Alkermes plc† | 48,540 | 40,800 | |||||||||
4,000 | Allergan plc | 718,552 | 764,680 | |||||||||
20,000 | AmerisourceBergen Corp. | 1,673,215 | 1,700,400 | |||||||||
25,000 | Amgen Inc. | 2,544,386 | 6,026,750 | |||||||||
1,000 | AngioDynamics Inc.† | 19,005 | 16,010 | |||||||||
15,901 | Aptinyx Inc.† | 64,622 | 54,381 | |||||||||
1,500 | Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.† | 50,630 | 68,130 | |||||||||
1,000 | Avanos Medical Inc.† | 34,530 | 33,700 | |||||||||
27,097 | Axogen Inc.† | 375,878 | 484,765 | |||||||||
2,596 | Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd.† | 46,529 | 13,292 | |||||||||
13,000 | Baxter International Inc. | 400,407 | 1,087,060 | |||||||||
7,000 | Biogen Inc.† | 1,984,788 | 2,077,110 | |||||||||
500 | BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.† | 38,509 | 42,275 | |||||||||
10,000 | BioTelemetry Inc.† | 465,654 | 463,000 | |||||||||
183,000 | Boston Scientific Corp.† | 5,348,991 | 8,275,260 | |||||||||
151,000 | Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. | 8,034,898 | 9,692,690 | |||||||||
30,400 | Clovis Oncology Inc.† | 393,065 | 316,920 | |||||||||
134,056 | ConforMIS Inc.† | 191,831 | 201,084 | |||||||||
85,900 | Covetrus Inc.† | 1,738,852 | 1,133,880 | |||||||||
500 | CRISPR Therapeutics AG† | 11,460 | 30,453 | |||||||||
17,900 | Cutera Inc.† | 507,699 | 640,999 | |||||||||
6,000 | CytomX Therapeutics Inc.† | 60,611 | 49,860 | |||||||||
244,000 | Demant A/S† | 2,221,329 | 7,684,232 | |||||||||
1,000 | Editas Medicine Inc.† | 21,420 | 29,610 | |||||||||
2,000 | ElectroCore Inc.† | 28,040 | 3,180 | |||||||||
10,667 | Electromed Inc.† | 51,574 | 92,270 | |||||||||
17,200 | Endo International plc† | 127,782 | 80,668 | |||||||||
3,000 | Evolus Inc.† | 42,844 | 36,510 | |||||||||
2,500 | Exact Sciences Corp.† | 206,624 | 231,200 | |||||||||
1,500 | G1 Therapeutics Inc.† | 22,130 | 39,645 | |||||||||
10,370 | GenMark Diagnostics Inc.† | 44,815 | 49,880 | |||||||||
6,000 | Gritstone Oncology Inc.† | 65,168 | 53,820 | |||||||||
61,000 | Henry Schein Inc.† | 1,700,084 | 4,069,920 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
8
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Schedule of Investments (Continued) — December 31, 2019
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
COMMON STOCKS (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
Health Care (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
2,500 | ICU Medical Inc.† | $ | 429,292 | $ | 467,800 | |||||||
6,500 | Incyte Corp.† | 617,516 | 567,580 | |||||||||
46,800 | Indivior plc† | 28,408 | 24,177 | |||||||||
5,900 | Inogen Inc.† | 429,538 | 403,147 | |||||||||
2,000 | Intellia Therapeutics Inc.† | 25,140 | 29,340 | |||||||||
2,000 | Intersect ENT Inc.† | 32,020 | 49,800 | |||||||||
15,000 | IRIDEX Corp.† | 41,574 | 33,600 | |||||||||
35,000 | Johnson & Johnson | 3,310,149 | 5,105,450 | |||||||||
7,000 | Jounce Therapeutics Inc.† | 54,040 | 61,110 | |||||||||
10,000 | La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co.† | 25,200 | 39,300 | |||||||||
17,569 | Lannett Co. Inc.† | 115,719 | 154,959 | |||||||||
500 | LivaNova plc† | 34,220 | 37,715 | |||||||||
10,500 | Mallinckrodt plc† | 149,520 | 36,645 | |||||||||
27,000 | Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc.† | 123,443 | 58,320 | |||||||||
105,200 | Merck & Co. Inc. | 5,251,624 | 9,567,940 | |||||||||
6,500 | Meridian Bioscience Inc. | 87,370 | 63,505 | |||||||||
7,000 | Merit Medical Systems Inc.† | 194,405 | 218,540 | |||||||||
6,000 | Mylan NV† | 126,780 | 120,600 | |||||||||
5,000 | Myriad Genetics Inc.† | 125,340 | 136,150 | |||||||||
17,559 | Nabriva Therapeutics plc† | 47,240 | 23,178 | |||||||||
6,000 | Nektar Therapeutics† | 255,282 | 129,510 | |||||||||
19,500 | Neuronetics Inc.† | 177,215 | 87,555 | |||||||||
83,000 | Novartis AG, ADR | 4,261,417 | 7,859,270 | |||||||||
1,500 | NuVasive Inc.† | 68,105 | 116,010 | |||||||||
1,804,318 | Option Care Health Inc.† | 4,146,862 | 6,730,106 | |||||||||
3,000 | Orthofix Medical Inc.† | 143,349 | 138,540 | |||||||||
8,859 | Patterson Cos. Inc. | 202,482 | 181,432 | |||||||||
1,000 | Perrigo Co. plc | 38,520 | 51,660 | |||||||||
8,500 | Puma Biotechnology Inc.† | 198,918 | 74,375 | |||||||||
2,000 | Retrophin Inc.† | 37,040 | 28,400 | |||||||||
27,064 | ReWalk Robotics Ltd.† | 94,116 | 58,458 | |||||||||
26,121 | Rockwell Medical Inc.† | 78,547 | 63,735 | |||||||||
3,000 | Sangamo Therapeutics Inc.† | 39,060 | 25,110 | |||||||||
956 | SeaSpine Holdings Corp.† | 10,535 | 11,482 | |||||||||
13,700 | SmileDirectClub Inc.† | 114,168 | 119,738 | |||||||||
71 | Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd.† | 431 | 1,218 | |||||||||
762 | Soliton Inc.† | 7,591 | 8,367 | |||||||||
13,000 | T2 Biosystems Inc.† | 35,660 | 15,210 | |||||||||
8,000 | Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., ADR† | 144,760 | 78,400 | |||||||||
1,500 | Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc.† | 54,580 | 64,065 | |||||||||
5,000 | United Therapeutics Corp.† | 484,765 | 440,400 | |||||||||
47,000 | UnitedHealth Group Inc. | 8,642,873 | 13,817,060 | |||||||||
2,400 | USANA Health Sciences Inc.† | 177,898 | 188,520 | |||||||||
11,996 | Valeritas Holdings Inc.† | 56,778 | 6,897 | |||||||||
4,000 | Waters Corp.† | 285,470 | 934,600 | |||||||||
22,000 | Zafgen Inc.† | 59,317 | 24,420 | |||||||||
10,500 | Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. | 1,181,758 | 1,571,640 |
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
31,200 | Zoetis Inc. | $ | 1,023,527 | $ | 4,129,320 | |||||||
8,688 | Zomedica Pharmaceuticals Corp.† | 2,563 | 2,876 | |||||||||
21,297 | Zosano Pharma Corp.† | 87,283 | 32,371 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
64,249,250 | 101,515,137 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Diversified Industrial — 5.0% |
| |||||||||||
7,000 | Acuity Brands Inc. | 918,568 | 966,000 | |||||||||
175,000 | Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp.† | 2,003,575 | 526,750 | |||||||||
50,000 | Colfax Corp.† | 1,279,533 | 1,819,000 | |||||||||
168,100 | Crane Co. | 8,646,445 | 14,520,478 | |||||||||
7,000 | EnPro Industries Inc. | 455,263 | 468,160 | |||||||||
160,000 | General Electric Co. | 1,567,862 | 1,785,600 | |||||||||
15,000 | Graf Industrial Corp.† | 150,000 | 159,750 | |||||||||
127,000 | Greif Inc., Cl. A | 2,692,735 | 5,613,400 | |||||||||
12,000 | Greif Inc., Cl. B | 727,946 | 621,240 | |||||||||
68,000 | Griffon Corp. | 1,272,203 | 1,382,440 | |||||||||
257,000 | Honeywell International Inc. | 30,102,908 | 45,489,000 | |||||||||
3,500 | IntriCon Corp.† | 82,415 | 63,000 | |||||||||
93,000 | ITT Inc. | 2,111,685 | 6,873,630 | |||||||||
11,000 | Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd. | 222,951 | 337,150 | |||||||||
39,000 | Kennametal Inc. | 1,052,311 | 1,438,710 | |||||||||
50,000 | Myers Industries Inc. | 818,952 | 834,000 | |||||||||
30,000 | nVent Electric plc | 327,658 | 767,400 | |||||||||
85,000 | Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. | 892,930 | 2,860,250 | |||||||||
10,000 | Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. | 156,631 | 38,400 | |||||||||
30,000 | Rexnord Corp.† | 630,867 | 978,600 | |||||||||
50,000 | Schultze Special Purpose Acquisition Corp.† | 500,000 | 536,250 | |||||||||
65,000 | ServiceMaster Global Holdings Inc.† | 2,237,841 | 2,512,900 | |||||||||
11,000 | Sulzer AG | 581,605 | 1,227,526 | |||||||||
90,000 | Textron Inc. | 5,024,197 | 4,014,000 | |||||||||
100,000 | Toray Industries Inc. | 771,663 | 682,067 | |||||||||
12,000 | Tredegar Corp. | 171,530 | 268,200 | |||||||||
85,000 | Trinity Industries Inc. | 1,397,210 | 1,882,750 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
66,797,484 | 98,666,651 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Consumer Products — 4.2% |
| |||||||||||
14,100 | Christian Dior SE | 534,292 | 7,224,767 | |||||||||
27,000 | Church & Dwight Co. Inc. | 383,636 | 1,899,180 | |||||||||
229,000 | Edgewell Personal Care Co.† | 15,663,276 | 7,089,840 | |||||||||
192,000 | Energizer Holdings Inc. | 7,860,764 | 9,642,240 | |||||||||
27,600 | Essity AB, Cl. B | 294,742 | 889,320 | |||||||||
2,100 | Givaudan SA | 725,396 | 6,576,875 | |||||||||
85,000 | Hanesbrands Inc. | 747,430 | 1,262,250 | |||||||||
23,800 | Harley-Davidson Inc. | 1,105,662 | 885,122 | |||||||||
1,270 | Hermes International | 444,999 | 949,045 | |||||||||
20,000 | Mattel Inc.† | 291,642 | 271,000 | |||||||||
10,500 | National Presto Industries Inc. | 515,853 | 928,095 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
9
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Schedule of Investments (Continued) — December 31, 2019
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
COMMON STOCKS (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
Consumer Products (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
31,600 | Newell Brands Inc. | $ | 473,677 | $ | 607,352 | |||||||
10,000 | Oil-Dri Corp. of America | 171,255 | 362,500 | |||||||||
46,800 | Reckitt Benckiser Group plc | 1,391,995 | 3,799,470 | |||||||||
2,205 | Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. | 110,250 | 141,759 | |||||||||
27,600 | Svenska Cellulosa AB SCA, Cl. B | 73,685 | 279,938 | |||||||||
766,900 | Swedish Match AB | 9,464,263 | 39,530,801 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
40,252,817 | 82,339,554 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Consumer Services — 4.0% |
| |||||||||||
20,000 | eBay Inc. | 416,823 | 722,200 | |||||||||
591 | Expedia Group Inc. | 62,285 | 63,911 | |||||||||
56,500 | GCI Liberty Inc., Cl. A† | 2,662,362 | 4,003,025 | |||||||||
250,000 | Groupon Inc.† | 719,610 | 597,500 | |||||||||
39,000 | IAC/InterActiveCorp.† | 2,406,941 | 9,715,290 | |||||||||
21,000 | Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings Inc., Cl. A† | 247,059 | 154,350 | |||||||||
17,000 | Matthews International Corp., Cl. A | 679,846 | 648,890 | |||||||||
265,000 | Qurate Retail Inc., Cl. A† | 4,240,097 | 2,233,950 | |||||||||
1,828,000 | Rollins Inc. | 44,834,069 | 60,616,480 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
56,269,092 | 78,755,596 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Business Services — 3.9% |
| |||||||||||
11,000 | Allegion plc | 198,490 | 1,369,940 | |||||||||
400,035 | Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc.† | 1,574,742 | 1,144,100 | |||||||||
257,500 | Diebold Nixdorf Inc.† | 2,256,860 | 2,719,200 | |||||||||
3,000 | Edenred | 38,786 | 155,132 | |||||||||
30,000 | Emerald Expositions Events Inc. | 486,342 | 316,500 | |||||||||
160,000 | G4S plc | 0 | 462,023 | |||||||||
16,000 | Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd. | 534,478 | 889,600 | |||||||||
154,102 | Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. | 6,612,191 | 6,601,730 | |||||||||
170,000 | Mastercard Inc., Cl. A | 20,896,748 | 50,760,300 | |||||||||
205,000 | Resideo Technologies Inc.† | 3,463,968 | 2,445,650 | |||||||||
244,000 | The Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. | 4,086,210 | 5,636,400 | |||||||||
10,000 | Vectrus Inc.† | 106,200 | 512,600 | |||||||||
12,800 | Visa Inc., Cl. A | 140,800 | 2,405,120 | |||||||||
8,000 | WW International Inc.† | 163,140 | 305,680 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
40,558,955 | 75,723,975 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Energy and Utilities — 3.7% |
| |||||||||||
45,000 | Apache Corp. | 1,712,012 | 1,151,550 | |||||||||
60,000 | Baker Hughes Co. | 2,114,222 | 1,537,800 | |||||||||
80,000 | BP plc, ADR | 3,952,168 | 3,019,200 | |||||||||
50,000 | California Resources Corp.† | 389,438 | 451,500 |
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
16,000 | CMS Energy Corp. | $ | 102,219 | $ | 1,005,440 | |||||||
172,000 | ConocoPhillips | 8,504,848 | 11,185,160 | |||||||||
175,000 | El Paso Electric Co. | 6,929,149 | 11,880,750 | |||||||||
98,400 | Enbridge Inc. | 2,488,608 | 3,913,368 | |||||||||
55,000 | Energy Transfer LP | 797,128 | 705,650 | |||||||||
20,000 | Evergy Inc. | 1,123,692 | 1,301,800 | |||||||||
22,000 | Eversource Energy | 700,543 | 1,871,540 | |||||||||
46,000 | Exxon Mobil Corp. | 2,083,107 | 3,209,880 | |||||||||
241,700 | Halliburton Co. | 5,685,758 | 5,914,399 | |||||||||
104,984 | KLX Energy Services Holdings Inc.† | 2,077,984 | 676,097 | |||||||||
4,000 | Marathon Oil Corp. | 111,366 | 54,320 | |||||||||
8,000 | Marathon Petroleum Corp. | 402,325 | 482,000 | |||||||||
15,000 | Murphy USA Inc.† | 1,407,714 | 1,755,000 | |||||||||
43,000 | National Fuel Gas Co. | 2,630,792 | 2,001,220 | |||||||||
12,000 | NextEra Energy Inc. | 783,959 | 2,905,920 | |||||||||
39,000 | NextEra Energy Partners LP | 1,990,004 | 2,053,350 | |||||||||
1,000 | Niko Resources Ltd., OTC† | 54,403 | 1 | |||||||||
3,000 | Niko Resources Ltd., | 923 | 3 | |||||||||
6,968 | Occidental Petroleum Corp. | 322,521 | 287,151 | |||||||||
32,400 | Oceaneering International Inc.† | 437,629 | 483,084 | |||||||||
147,500 | Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. | 2,090,923 | 1,548,750 | |||||||||
36,000 | Phillips 66 | 3,073,885 | �� | 4,010,760 | ||||||||
32,680 | RPC Inc. | 439,024 | 171,243 | |||||||||
60,000 | Schlumberger Ltd. | 2,344,479 | 2,412,000 | |||||||||
15,000 | Southwest Gas Holdings Inc. | 347,695 | 1,139,550 | |||||||||
100,000 | Tallgrass Energy LP, Cl. A | 2,216,640 | 2,212,000 | |||||||||
111,500 | The AES Corp. | 981,563 | 2,218,850 | |||||||||
19,000 | Valaris plc | 629,878 | 124,640 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
58,926,599 | 71,683,976 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Automotive: Parts and Accessories — 3.3% |
| |||||||||||
3,500 | Aptiv plc | 198,091 | 332,395 | |||||||||
93,600 | BorgWarner Inc. | 4,156,216 | 4,060,368 | |||||||||
240,900 | Dana Inc. | 2,646,092 | 4,384,380 | |||||||||
24,200 | Garrett Motion Inc.† | 254,809 | 241,758 | |||||||||
242,500 | Genuine Parts Co. | 17,153,135 | 25,760,775 | |||||||||
180,000 | Modine Manufacturing Co.† | 3,181,636 | 1,386,000 | |||||||||
51,500 | O’Reilly Automotive Inc.† | 14,403,164 | 22,570,390 | |||||||||
105,000 | Standard Motor Products Inc. | 1,181,521 | 5,588,100 | |||||||||
106,440 | Superior Industries International Inc. | 1,304,579 | 392,764 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
44,479,243 | 64,716,930 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Cable and Satellite — 3.1% |
| |||||||||||
248,200 | AMC Networks Inc., Cl. A† | 11,972,985 | 9,803,900 | |||||||||
200 | Cable One Inc. | 77,334 | 297,694 | |||||||||
215,000 | Comcast Corp., Cl. A | 6,749,807 | 9,668,550 | |||||||||
108,642 | DISH Network Corp., Cl. A† | 3,753,232 | 3,853,532 | |||||||||
50,433 | EchoStar Corp., Cl. A† | 1,631,301 | 2,184,253 | |||||||||
145,605 | Liberty Global plc, Cl. A† | 2,504,125 | 3,311,058 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
10
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Schedule of Investments (Continued) — December 31, 2019
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
COMMON STOCKS (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
Cable and Satellite (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
264,064 | Liberty Global plc, Cl. C† | $ | 6,980,516 | $ | 5,755,275 | |||||||
21,712 | Liberty Latin America Ltd., Cl. A† | 407,240 | 419,042 | |||||||||
42,918 | Liberty Latin America Ltd., Cl. C† | 1,218,719 | 835,184 | |||||||||
4,000 | Naspers Ltd., Cl. N | 899,818 | 654,231 | |||||||||
417,000 | Rogers Communications Inc., Cl. B | 10,613,923 | 20,712,390 | |||||||||
160,000 | Shaw Communications Inc., Cl. B | 407,615 | 3,246,400 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
47,216,615 | 60,741,509 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Machinery — 2.6% |
| |||||||||||
25,000 | Astec Industries Inc. | 856,158 | 1,050,000 | |||||||||
12,800 | Caterpillar Inc. | 86,323 | 1,890,304 | |||||||||
255,010 | CNH Industrial NV | 2,881,999 | 2,805,110 | |||||||||
165,000 | Deere & Co.(a) | 10,031,862 | 28,587,900 | |||||||||
210,000 | Xylem Inc. | 11,282,705 | 16,545,900 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
25,139,047 | 50,879,214 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Electronics — 2.6% |
| |||||||||||
34,000 | Bel Fuse Inc., Cl. A | 471,424 | 544,000 | |||||||||
4,000 | Hitachi Ltd., ADR | 287,076 | 337,720 | |||||||||
50,000 | Intel Corp. | 1,265,873 | 2,992,500 | |||||||||
267,528 | Johnson Controls International plc | 10,651,340 | 10,891,065 | |||||||||
33,000 | Koninklijke Philips NV | 178,742 | 1,610,400 | |||||||||
2,400 | Mettler-Toledo International Inc.† | 337,270 | 1,903,872 | |||||||||
25,000 | Sony Corp., ADR | 1,493,266 | 1,700,000 | |||||||||
40,000 | TE Connectivity Ltd. | 1,553,958 | 3,833,600 | |||||||||
209,000 | Texas Instruments Inc. | 12,872,764 | 26,812,610 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
29,111,713 | 50,625,767 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Broadcasting — 2.4% |
| |||||||||||
2,000 | Cogeco Inc. | 39,014 | 160,317 | |||||||||
24,000 | Corus Entertainment Inc., OTC, Cl. B | 42,622 | 98,172 | |||||||||
500,000 | Entercom Communications Corp., Cl. A | 4,515,626 | 2,320,000 | |||||||||
161,733 | Fox Corp., Cl. A | 6,720,006 | 5,995,442 | |||||||||
112,333 | Fox Corp., Cl. B | 4,650,586 | 4,088,921 | |||||||||
16,000 | Gray Television Inc.† | 14,422 | 343,040 | |||||||||
19,250 | Liberty Broadband Corp., Cl. A† | 608,060 | 2,397,780 | |||||||||
62,192 | Liberty Broadband Corp., Cl. C† | 2,218,961 | 7,820,644 | |||||||||
76,331 | Liberty Media Corp.- Liberty Formula One, Cl. A† | 2,361,632 | 3,341,771 | |||||||||
52,250 | Liberty Media Corp.- Liberty Formula One, Cl. C† | 1,197,836 | 2,401,671 |
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
75,000 | Liberty Media Corp.- Liberty SiriusXM, Cl. A† | $ | 1,647,568 | $ | 3,625,500 | |||||||
163,000 | Liberty Media Corp.- Liberty SiriusXM, Cl. C† | 4,387,607 | 7,846,820 | |||||||||
267,600 | MSG Networks Inc., Cl. A† | 2,660,368 | 4,656,240 | |||||||||
14,000 | Nexstar Media Group Inc., Cl. A | 858,900 | 1,641,500 | |||||||||
4,500 | Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., Cl. A | 135,392 | 150,030 | |||||||||
85,200 | Television Broadcasts Ltd. | 339,712 | 133,831 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
32,398,312 | 47,021,679 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Retail — 2.4% |
| |||||||||||
76,300 | AutoNation Inc.† | 2,872,225 | 3,710,469 | |||||||||
5,000 | Casey’s General Stores Inc. | 531,212 | 794,950 | |||||||||
38,500 | Costco Wholesale Corp. | 4,537,871 | 11,315,920 | |||||||||
84,000 | CVS Health Corp. | 7,017,992 | 6,240,360 | |||||||||
30,000 | GNC Holdings Inc., Cl. A† | 92,299 | 81,000 | |||||||||
350,000 | Hertz Global Holdings Inc.† | 4,533,044 | 5,512,500 | |||||||||
20,000 | J.C. Penney Co. Inc.† | 130,012 | 22,400 | |||||||||
45,000 | Lowe’s Companies Inc. | 4,236,208 | 5,389,200 | |||||||||
235,000 | Macy’s Inc. | 3,843,164 | 3,995,000 | |||||||||
43,610 | PetIQ Inc.† | 1,202,062 | 1,092,431 | |||||||||
1,279 | PetMed Express Inc. | 19,338 | 30,082 | |||||||||
30,600 | Sally Beauty Holdings Inc.† | 242,911 | 558,450 | |||||||||
16,000 | The Cheesecake Factory Inc. | 523,436 | 621,760 | |||||||||
63,000 | Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | 2,332,529 | 3,714,480 | |||||||||
30,000 | Walmart Inc. | 1,519,821 | 3,565,200 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
33,634,124 | 46,644,202 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Aerospace and Defense — 2.3% |
| |||||||||||
272,000 | Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.† | 5,200,558 | 12,419,520 | |||||||||
35,800 | Kaman Corp. | 881,634 | 2,359,936 | |||||||||
12,001 | L3Harris Technologies Inc. | 971,927 | 2,374,638 | |||||||||
17,500 | Northrop Grumman Corp. | 2,151,104 | 6,019,475 | |||||||||
1,209,000 | Rolls-Royce Holdings plc | 9,301,551 | 10,941,119 | |||||||||
55,614,000 | Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Cl. C† | 71,642 | 73,667 | |||||||||
34,000 | The Boeing Co. | 6,473,681 | 11,075,840 | |||||||||
1,745 | United Technologies Corp. | 215,804 | 261,331 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
25,267,901 | 45,525,526 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Telecommunications — 2.2% |
| |||||||||||
67,000 | AT&T Inc. | 2,222,014 | 2,618,360 | |||||||||
55,400 | BCE Inc. | 1,851,178 | 2,567,790 | |||||||||
914,200 | BT Group plc, Cl. A | 3,780,313 | 2,330,366 | |||||||||
7,040,836 | Cable & Wireless Jamaica Ltd.†(b) | 128,658 | 77,032 | |||||||||
70,000 | Cincinnati Bell Inc.† | 1,121,870 | 732,900 | |||||||||
100,000 | Deutsche Telekom AG, ADR | 1,656,300 | 1,629,000 | |||||||||
116,561 | Gogo Inc.† | 368,565 | 745,990 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
11
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Schedule of Investments (Continued) — December 31, 2019
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
COMMON STOCKS (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
Telecommunications (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
36,000 | Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA | $ | 452,922 | $ | 575,838 | |||||||
15,000 | Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA, ADR | 91,062 | 121,050 | |||||||||
264,732 | Koninklijke KPN NV | 448,166 | 781,279 | |||||||||
55,000 | Loral Space & Communications Inc.† | 2,139,860 | 1,777,600 | |||||||||
16,000 | Oi SA, ADR† | 6,333 | 4,141 | |||||||||
4,267 | Oi SA, Cl. C, ADR† | 118,940 | 3,975 | |||||||||
40,053 | Sprint Corp.† | 224,220 | 208,676 | |||||||||
21,000 | Telecom Argentina SA, ADR | 127,554 | 238,350 | |||||||||
535,000 | Telecom Italia SpA† | 2,073,015 | 333,902 | |||||||||
70,000 | Telefonica Brasil SA, ADR | 726,827 | 1,002,400 | |||||||||
560,739 | Telefonica SA, ADR | 8,069,428 | 3,908,351 | |||||||||
533,700 | Telephone & Data Systems Inc. | 22,333,435 | 13,571,991 | |||||||||
105,000 | Telesites SAB de CV† | 79,714 | 77,747 | |||||||||
25,000 | TELUS Corp. | 233,734 | 968,003 | |||||||||
119,000 | Verizon Communications Inc. | 4,950,353 | 7,306,600 | |||||||||
70,000 | Vodafone Group plc, ADR | 2,376,792 | 1,353,100 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
55,581,253 | 42,934,441 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Specialty Chemicals — 2.0% |
| |||||||||||
11,000 | AdvanSix Inc.† | 134,544 | 219,560 | |||||||||
9,000 | Air Products & Chemicals Inc. | 1,500,511 | 2,114,910 | |||||||||
11,000 | Ashland Global Holdings Inc. | 541,523 | 841,830 | |||||||||
19,000 | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.† | 593,357 | 577,600 | |||||||||
10,000 | Dow Inc. | 549,486 | 547,300 | |||||||||
95,000 | DuPont de Nemours Inc. | 7,042,691 | 6,099,000 | |||||||||
445,300 | Ferro Corp.† | 5,085,162 | 6,603,799 | |||||||||
10,000 | FMC Corp. | 262,417 | 998,200 | |||||||||
78,500 | GCP Applied Technologies Inc.† | 1,677,448 | 1,782,735 | |||||||||
24,000 | H.B. Fuller Co. | 833,663 | 1,237,680 | |||||||||
55,500 | International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | 4,328,808 | 7,160,610 | |||||||||
170,000 | OMNOVA Solutions Inc.† | 1,828,037 | 1,718,700 | |||||||||
134,900 | Sensient Technologies Corp. | 6,190,038 | 8,915,541 | |||||||||
17,000 | SGL Carbon SE† | 214,416 | 90,387 | |||||||||
2,000 | The Chemours Co. | 22,594 | 36,180 | |||||||||
20,000 | Valvoline Inc. | 393,398 | 428,200 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
31,198,093 | 39,372,232 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Environmental Services — 2.0% |
| |||||||||||
35,000 | Pentair plc | 815,625 | 1,605,450 | |||||||||
233,000 | Republic Services Inc. | 13,901,609 | 20,883,790 | |||||||||
141,600 | Waste Management Inc. | 11,292,669 | 16,136,736 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
26,009,903 | 38,625,976 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
Hotels and Gaming — 1.8% |
| |||||||||||
16,000 | Accor SA | $ | 549,282 | $ | 749,299 | |||||||
41,557 | GVC Holdings plc | 538,448 | 486,723 | |||||||||
8,000 | Hyatt Hotels Corp., Cl. A | 263,258 | 717,680 | |||||||||
22,000 | Las Vegas Sands Corp. | 586,184 | 1,518,880 | |||||||||
4,458,500 | Mandarin Oriental International Ltd. | 7,820,217 | 8,114,470 | |||||||||
15,000 | Marriott International Inc., Cl. A | 1,229,670 | 2,271,450 | |||||||||
70,000 | MGM China Holdings Ltd. | 137,917 | 114,267 | |||||||||
218,000 | MGM Resorts International | 6,337,200 | 7,252,860 | |||||||||
7,560 | Penn National Gaming Inc.† | 216,367 | 193,234 | |||||||||
144,800 | Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc., REIT | 5,802,261 | 12,548,368 | |||||||||
200,000 | The Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels Ltd. | 155,450 | 214,314 | |||||||||
200,000 | William Hill plc | 370,414 | 499,245 | |||||||||
4,000 | Wyndham Destinations Inc. | 130,025 | 206,760 | |||||||||
4,000 | Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc. | 152,872 | 251,240 | |||||||||
6,000 | Wynn Resorts Ltd. | 469,634 | 833,220 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
24,759,199 | 35,972,010 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Aviation: Parts and Services — 1.7% |
| |||||||||||
14,000 | Arconic Inc. | 258,438 | 430,780 | |||||||||
203,000 | Curtiss-Wright Corp. | 15,622,867 | 28,600,670 | |||||||||
997,242 | Signature Aviation plc | 2,811,696 | 4,190,070 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
18,693,001 | 33,221,520 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Computer Software and Services — 1.2% |
| |||||||||||
7,500 | Alphabet Inc., Cl. C† | 8,550,736 | 10,027,650 | |||||||||
5,400 | Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.† | 224,765 | 599,184 | |||||||||
3,000 | Facebook Inc., Cl. A† | 466,804 | 615,750 | |||||||||
12,120 | Fiserv Inc.† | 625,596 | 1,401,436 | |||||||||
240,000 | Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. | 3,476,618 | 3,806,400 | |||||||||
621,474 | Internap Corp.† | 3,069,797 | 683,621 | |||||||||
21,000 | InterXion Holding NV† | 720,513 | 1,760,010 | |||||||||
66 | Liq Participacoes SA† | 1,092 | 146 | |||||||||
20,900 | Rockwell Automation Inc. | 648,748 | 4,235,803 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
17,784,669 | 23,130,000 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Building and Construction — 1.0% |
| |||||||||||
27,000 | Arcosa Inc. | 476,033 | 1,202,850 | |||||||||
63,210 | Armstrong Flooring Inc.† | 898,280 | 269,907 | |||||||||
18,000 | Assa Abloy AB, Cl. B | 310,378 | 420,868 | |||||||||
75,000 | Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc. | 2,212,203 | 4,900,500 | |||||||||
189,803 | Herc Holdings Inc.† | 6,682,398 | 9,288,959 | |||||||||
7,500 | Lennar Corp., Cl. A | 390,932 | 418,425 | |||||||||
40,000 | PGT Innovations Inc.† | 572,348 | 596,400 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
12
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Schedule of Investments (Continued) — December 31, 2019
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
COMMON STOCKS (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
Building and Construction (Continued) |
| |||||||||||
12,000 | Sika AG | $ | 1,556,815 | $ | 2,254,805 | |||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
13,099,387 | 19,352,714 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Wireless Communications — 0.9% |
| |||||||||||
105,000 | America Movil SAB de CV, Cl. L, ADR | 735,232 | 1,680,000 | |||||||||
88,000 | Millicom International Cellular SA, SDR | 5,107,388 | 4,214,747 | |||||||||
150,000 | NTT DOCOMO Inc. | 2,980,751 | 4,194,009 | |||||||||
46,075 | TIM Participacoes SA, ADR | 352,294 | 880,493 | |||||||||
32,400 | T-Mobile US Inc.† | 1,906,381 | 2,540,808 | |||||||||
104,600 | United States Cellular Corp.† | 4,965,942 | 3,789,658 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
16,047,988 | 17,299,715 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Automotive — 0.7% |
| |||||||||||
80,000 | General Motors Co. | 3,044,272 | 2,928,000 | |||||||||
180,000 | Navistar International Corp.† | 4,569,128 | 5,209,200 | |||||||||
70,000 | PACCAR Inc. | 1,294,774 | 5,537,000 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
8,908,174 | 13,674,200 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Metals and Mining — 0.7% |
| |||||||||||
37,400 | Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. | 1,530,570 | 2,304,214 | |||||||||
50,000 | Barrick Gold Corp. | 1,464,000 | 929,500 | |||||||||
30,000 | Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. | 296,432 | 252,000 | |||||||||
80,000 | Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | 1,408,020 | 1,049,600 | |||||||||
14,053 | Livent Corp.† | 80,000 | 120,153 | |||||||||
4,300 | Materion Corp. | 97,512 | 255,635 | |||||||||
50,000 | New Hope Corp. Ltd. | 67,580 | 72,280 | |||||||||
143,600 | Newmont Goldcorp Corp. | 5,120,536 | 6,239,420 | |||||||||
180,000 | TimkenSteel Corp.† | 2,506,019 | 1,414,800 | |||||||||
100,000 | Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd.† | 491,902 | 73,620 | |||||||||
15,000 | Vale SA, ADR | 171,892 | 198,000 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
13,234,463 | 12,909,222 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Transportation — 0.5% |
| |||||||||||
131,200 | GATX Corp. | 4,730,843 | 10,869,920 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Real Estate — 0.5% |
| |||||||||||
10,000 | Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc., REIT | 158,285 | 430,500 | |||||||||
56,000 | Griffin Industrial Realty Inc. | 542,694 | 2,214,800 | |||||||||
29,000 | Rayonier Inc., REIT | 454,837 | 950,040 | |||||||||
325,803 | The St. Joe Co.† | 5,914,675 | 6,460,673 | |||||||||
15,000 | Weyerhaeuser Co., REIT | 442,013 | 453,000 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
7,512,504 | 10,509,013 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Agriculture — 0.5% |
| |||||||||||
200,000 | Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. | 9,150,371 | 9,270,000 | |||||||||
10,000 | The Mosaic Co. | 428,085 | 216,400 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
9,578,456 | 9,486,400 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Shares | Cost | Market Value | ||||||||||
Publishing — 0.4% |
| |||||||||||
1,100 | Graham Holdings Co., Cl. B | $ | 588,093 | $ | 702,889 | |||||||
107,700 | Meredith Corp. | 5,069,430 | 3,497,019 | |||||||||
125,000 | News Corp., Cl. A | 1,939,129 | 1,767,500 | |||||||||
100,600 | News Corp., Cl. B | 1,289,652 | 1,459,706 | |||||||||
70,000 | The E.W. Scripps Co., Cl. A | 831,325 | 1,099,700 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
9,717,629 | 8,526,814 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Communications Equipment — 0.4% |
| |||||||||||
4,000 | Apple Inc. | 687,702 | 1,174,600 | |||||||||
240,000 | Corning Inc. | 6,565,998 | 6,986,400 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
7,253,700 | 8,161,000 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Manufactured Housing and Recreational Vehicles — 0.2% |
| |||||||||||
5,000 | Martin Marietta Materials Inc. | 106,125 | 1,398,200 | |||||||||
30,000 | Nobility Homes Inc. | 349,956 | 720,000 | |||||||||
42,000 | Skyline Champion Corp.† | 256,482 | 1,331,400 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
712,563 | 3,449,600 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
TOTAL COMMON STOCKS | 1,212,754,426 | 1,883,305,578 | ||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
CLOSED-END FUNDS — 0.4% |
| |||||||||||
95,000 | Altaba Inc., Escrow† | 198,639 | 1,971,250 | |||||||||
4,285 | Royce Global Value Trust Inc. | 37,280 | 50,092 | |||||||||
45,000 | Royce Value Trust Inc. | 598,747 | 664,650 | |||||||||
92,106 | The Central Europe, Russia, and Turkey Fund Inc. | 2,648,248 | 2,606,600 | |||||||||
154,038 | The New Germany Fund Inc. | 2,077,654 | 2,415,316 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
5,560,568 | 7,707,908 | |||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
TOTALCLOSED-END FUNDS | 5,560,568 | 7,707,908 | ||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCKS — 0.0% |
| |||||||||||
Telecommunications — 0.0% |
| |||||||||||
21,000 | Cincinnati Bell Inc., 6.750%, Ser. B | 462,045 | 997,500 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
RIGHTS — 0.0% |
| |||||||||||
Entertainment — 0.0% |
| |||||||||||
139,123 | Media General Inc., | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Health Care — 0.0% |
| |||||||||||
1,500 | Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., CVR† | 3,450 | 4,515 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
TOTAL RIGHTS | 3,450 | 4,515 | ||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Principal Amount | ||||||||||||
U.S. GOVERNMENT OBLIGATIONS — 3.5% |
| |||||||||||
$68,040,000 | U.S. Treasury Bills, 1.487% to 1.682%††, 01/02/20 to 04/02/20 | 67,875,366 | 67,881,432 | |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
TOTAL INVESTMENTS — 100.0% | $ | 1,286,655,855 | 1,959,896,933 | |||||||||
|
|
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
13
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Schedule of Investments (Continued) — December 31, 2019
Market Value | ||||
Other Assets and Liabilities (Net) | $ | 6,109,776 | ||
PREFERRED STOCK | (453,816,725 | ) | ||
|
| |||
NET ASSETS — COMMON STOCK | $ | 1,512,189,984 | ||
|
| |||
NET ASSET VALUE PER COMMON SHARE | $ | 5.88 | ||
|
|
(a) | Securities, or a portion thereof, with a value of $49,154,400 were pledged as collateral for futures contracts. |
(b) | Security is valued using significant unobservable inputs and is classified as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. |
† | Non-income producing security. |
†† | Represents annualized yields at dates of purchase. |
ADR | American Depositary Receipt |
CVR | Contingent Value Right |
REIT | Real Estate Investment Trust |
SDR | Swedish Depositary Receipt |
Geographic Diversification | % of Total Investments | Market Value | ||||||||
North America | 84.4 | % | $ | 1,653,431,358 | ||||||
Europe | 12.2 | 238,672,737 | ||||||||
Japan | 1.7 | 34,333,703 | ||||||||
Latin America | 1.2 | 22,981,695 | ||||||||
Asia/Pacific | 0.5 | 9,823,209 | ||||||||
South Africa | 0.0 | * | 654,231 | |||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Total Investments | 100.0 | % | $ | 1,959,896,933 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
* | Amount represents less than 0.05%. |
As of December 31, 2019, futures contracts outstanding were as follows:
Description | Long/Short | Number of Contracts | Expiration Date | Notional Amount | Value | Unrealized (Depreciation) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
S&P 500 Futures(E-Mini) | Short | 117 | 03/20/20 | $ | 18,901,935 | $ | (261,625 | ) | $ | (261,625) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
TOTAL FUTURES | $ | (261,625) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
14
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
December 31, 2019
Assets: | ||||
Investments, at value (cost $1,286,655,855) | $ | 1,959,896,933 | ||
Foreign currency, at value (cost $19) | 19 | |||
Deposit at brokers | 810,810 | |||
Receivable for investments sold | 22,286,256 | |||
Dividends receivable | 3,345,443 | |||
Deferred offering expense | 90,995 | |||
Prepaid expenses | 2,895 | |||
|
| |||
Total Assets | 1,986,433,351 | |||
|
| |||
Liabilities: | ||||
Payable to custodian | 23,066 | |||
Distributions payable | 431,127 | |||
Payable for investments purchased | 16,141,431 | |||
Payable for investment advisory fees | 3,117,208 | |||
Payable for payroll expenses | 47,900 | |||
Payable for accounting fees | 11,250 | |||
Payable for preferred offering expenses | 313,976 | |||
Variation margin payable | 45,045 | |||
Other accrued expenses | 295,639 | |||
|
| |||
Total Liabilities | 20,426,642 | |||
|
| |||
Cumulative Preferred Stock, $0.001 par value: | ||||
Series C (Auction Rate, $25,000 liquidation value, 5,200 shares authorized with 2,880 shares issued and outstanding) | 72,000,000 | |||
Series E (Auction Rate, $25,000 liquidation value, 2,000 shares authorized with 1,120 shares issued and outstanding) | 28,000,000 | |||
Series G (5.000%, $25 liquidation value, 3,280,477 shares authorized with 2,779,796 shares issued and outstanding) | 69,494,900 | |||
Series H (5.000%, $25 liquidation value, 4,198,880 shares authorized with 4,172,873 shares issued and outstanding) | 104,321,825 | |||
Series J (5.450%, $25 liquidation value, 4,500,000 shares authorized with 3,200,000 shares issued and outstanding) | 80,000,000 | |||
Series K (5.000%, $25 liquidation value, 4,000,000 shares authorized with 4,000,000 shares issued and outstanding) | 100,000,000 | |||
|
| |||
Total Preferred Stock | 453,816,725 | |||
|
| |||
Net Assets Attributable to Common Shareholders | $ | 1,512,189,984 | ||
|
| |||
Net Assets Attributable to Common Shareholders Consist of: | ||||
Paid-in capital | $ | 851,779,149 | ||
Total distributable earnings | 660,410,835 | |||
|
| |||
Net Assets | $ | 1,512,189,984 | ||
|
| |||
Net Asset Value per Common Share: | ||||
($1,512,189,984 ÷ 257,072,039 shares outstanding at $0.001 par value; 337,024,900 shares authorized) | $ | 5.88 | ||
|
|
Statement of Operations
For the Year Ended December 31, 2019
Investment Income: | ||||
Dividends (net of foreign withholding taxes of $1,062,883) | $ | 34,112,567 | ||
Interest | 571,532 | |||
|
| |||
Total Investment Income | 34,684,099 | |||
|
| |||
Expenses: | ||||
Investment advisory fees | 18,976,571 | |||
Shareholder communications expenses | 394,871 | |||
Custodian fees | 238,752 | |||
Directors’ fees | 153,000 | |||
Payroll expenses | 146,366 | |||
Shareholder services fees | 135,678 | |||
Legal and audit fees | 59,897 | |||
Accounting fees | 45,000 | |||
Shelf registration expense | 19,268 | |||
Interest expense | 16 | |||
Auction agent fees (See Note 5) | (873,578 | ) | ||
Miscellaneous expenses | 413,688 | |||
|
| |||
Total Expenses | 19,709,529 | |||
|
| |||
Less: | ||||
Advisory fee reduction on unsupervised assets (See Note 3) | (8,345 | ) | ||
Expenses paid indirectly by broker (See Note 3) | (13,980 | ) | ||
Custodian fee credits | (4,182 | ) | ||
|
| |||
Total Reductions and Credits | (26,507 | ) | ||
|
| |||
Net Expenses | 19,683,022 | |||
|
| |||
Net Investment Income | 15,001,077 | |||
|
| |||
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain/(Loss) on Investments, Futures Contracts, and Foreign Currency: | ||||
Net realized gain on investments | 147,290,960 | |||
Net realized loss on futures contracts | (3,353,255 | ) | ||
Net realized loss on foreign currency transactions | (14,302 | ) | ||
|
| |||
Net realized gain on investments, futures contracts, and foreign currency transactions | 143,923,403 | |||
|
| |||
Net change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation: | ||||
on investments | 177,980,116 | |||
on futures contracts | (261,625 | ) | ||
on foreign currency translations | 1,803 | |||
|
| |||
Net change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments, futures contracts, and foreign currency translations | 177,720,294 | |||
|
| |||
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain/(Loss) on Investments, Futures Contracts, and Foreign Currency | 321,643,697 | |||
|
| |||
Net Increase in Net Assets Resulting fromOperations | 336,644,774 | |||
|
| |||
Total Distributions to Preferred Shareholders | (20,510,513 | ) | ||
|
| |||
Net Increase in Net Assets Attributable to Common Shareholders Resulting from Operations | $ | 316,134,261 | ||
|
|
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
15
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Statement of Changes in Net Assets Attributable to Common Shareholders
Year Ended December 31, 2019 | Year Ended December 31, 2018 | |||||||||
Operations: | ||||||||||
Net investment income | $ | 15,001,077 | $ | 17,063,275 | ||||||
Net realized gain on investments, futures contracts, and foreign currency transactions | 143,923,403 | 156,079,199 | ||||||||
Net change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments, futures contracts, and foreign currency translations | 177,720,294 | (301,016,852 | ) | |||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Net Increase/(Decrease) in Net Assets Resulting from Operations | 336,644,774 | (127,874,378 | ) | |||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Distributions to Preferred Shareholders | (20,510,513 | ) | (19,766,096 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Net Increase/(Decrease) in Net Assets Attributable to Common Shareholders Resulting from Operations | 316,134,261 | (147,640,474 | ) | |||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Distributions to Common Shareholders: | ||||||||||
Accumulated earnings | (139,208,505 | ) | (152,700,630 | ) | ||||||
Return of capital | (13,631,522 | ) | (8,979,028 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Total Distributions to Common Shareholders | (152,840,027 | ) | (161,679,658 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Fund Share Transactions: | ||||||||||
Net increase in net assets from common shares issued upon reinvestment of distributions | 21,764,586 | 7,658,026 | ||||||||
Net decrease in net assets from preferred offering costs charged topaid-in capital | (3,475,000 | ) | — | |||||||
Rights offering costs for common shares charged topaid-in capital | — | (58,709 | ) | |||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Net Increase in Net Assets from Fund Share Transactions | 18,289,586 | 7,599,317 | ||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
Net Increase/(Decrease) in Net Assets Attributable to Common Shareholders | 181,583,820 | (301,720,815 | ) | |||||||
Net Assets Attributable to Common Shareholders: | ||||||||||
Beginning of year | 1,330,606,164 | 1,632,326,979 | ||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||
End of year | $ | 1,512,189,984 | $ | 1,330,606,164 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
16
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Financial Highlights
Selected data for a common share outstanding throughout each year:
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operating Performance: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net asset value, beginning of year | $ | 5.25 | $ | 6.47 | $ | 5.84 | $ | 5.70 | $ | 6.78 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Net investment income | 0.06 | 0.07 | 0.04 | 0.07 | 0.06 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net realized and unrealized gain/(loss) on investments, futures contracts, and foreign currency transactions | 1.26 | (0.57 | ) | 1.42 | 0.75 | (0.44 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Total from investment operations | 1.32 | (0.50 | ) | 1.46 | 0.82 | (0.38 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Distributions to Preferred Shareholders: (a) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net investment income | (0.01 | ) | (0.01 | ) | (0.00 | )(b) | (0.01 | ) | (0.01 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Net realized gain | (0.07 | ) | (0.07 | ) | (0.08 | ) | (0.06 | ) | (0.05 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Total distributions to preferred shareholders | (0.08 | ) | (0.08 | ) | (0.08 | ) | (0.07 | ) | (0.06 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Net Increase/(Decrease) in Net Assets Attributable to Common Shareholders Resulting from Operations | 1.24 | (0.58 | ) | 1.38 | 0.75 | (0.44 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Distributions to Common Shareholders: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net investment income | (0.05 | ) | (0.06 | ) | (0.04 | ) | (0.08 | ) | (0.05 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Net realized gain | (0.50 | ) | (0.54 | ) | (0.57 | ) | (0.52 | ) | (0.44 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Return of capital | (0.05 | ) | (0.04 | ) | (0.00 | )(b) | (0.00 | )(b) | (0.15 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Total distributions to common shareholders | (0.60 | ) | (0.64 | ) | (0.61 | ) | (0.60 | ) | (0.64 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Fund Share Transactions: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Increase/decrease in net asset value from common share transactions | 0.00 | (b) | — | (0.14 | ) | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Increase in net asset value from repurchase of preferred shares | — | — | 0.00 | (b) | 0.00 | (b) | 0.00 | (b) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Offering costs and adjustment to offering costs for preferred shares charged topaid-in capital | (0.01 | ) | — | — | (0.01 | ) | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Offering costs and adjustment to offering costs for common shares charged topaid-in capital | — | (0.00 | )(b) | (0.00 | )(b) | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Total Fund share transactions | (0.01 | ) | (0.00 | )(b) | (0.14 | ) | (0.01 | ) | 0.00 | (b) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Net Asset Value Attributable to Common Shareholders, End of Year | $ | 5.88 | $ | 5.25 | $ | 6.47 | $ | 5.84 | $ | 5.70 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
NAV total return † | 24.03 | % | (10.17 | )% | 24.64 | % | 13.66 | % | (6.85 | )% | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Market value, end of year | $ | 6.09 | $ | 5.10 | $ | 6.19 | $ | 5.52 | $ | 5.31 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Investment total return †† | 32.19 | % | (8.43 | )% | 24.65 | % | 15.71 | % | (8.54 | )% | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Ratios to Average Net Assets and Supplemental Data: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net assets including liquidation value of preferred shares, end of year (in 000’s) | $ | 1,966,007 | $ | 1,743,519 | $ | 2,045,240 | $ | 1,693,448 | $ | 1,582,823 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Net assets attributable to common shares, end of year (in 000’s) | $ | 1,512,190 | $ | 1,330,606 | $ | 1,632,327 | $ | 1,280,115 | $ | 1,249,157 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ratio of net investment income to average net assets attributable to common shares before preferred distributions | 1.01 | % | 1.07 | % | 0.64 | % | 1.23 | % | 0.91 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ratio of operating expenses to average net assets attributable to common shares: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
before fee reductions(c)(d) | 1.33 | %(e) | 1.37 | % | 1.42 | % | 1.44 | % | 1.36 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
net of fee reductions, if any(c)(f) | 1.33 | %(e) | 1.27 | % | 1.42 | % | 1.44 | % | 1.25 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 11.0 | % | 17.1 | % | 11.4 | % | 12.7 | % | 8.9 | % |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
17
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Financial Highlights (Continued)
Selected data for a common share outstanding throughout each year:
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cumulative Preferred Stock: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Auction Rate Series C Preferred | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value, end of year (in 000’s) | $ | 72,000 | $ | 72,000 | $ | 72,000 | $ | 72,000 | $ | 72,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total shares outstanding (in 000’s) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation preference per share | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value(g) | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Asset coverage per share(h) | $ | 108,305 | $ | 105,562 | $ | 123,830 | $ | 102,426 | $ | 118,593 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Cumulative Preferred Stock (continued): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5.875% Series D Preferred(i) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value, end of year (in 000’s) | — | $ | 59,097 | $ | 59,097 | $ | 59,097 | $ | 59,097 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Total shares outstanding (in 000’s) | — | 2,364 | 2,364 | 2,364 | 2,364 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation preference per share | — | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Average market value(j) | — | $ | 25.62 | $ | 26.16 | $ | 26.22 | $ | 25.69 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Asset coverage per share(h) | — | $ | 105.56 | $ | 123.83 | $ | 102.43 | $ | 118.59 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Auction Rate Series E Preferred | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value, end of year (in 000’s) | $ | 28,000 | $ | 28,000 | $ | 28,000 | $ | 28,000 | $ | 28,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total shares outstanding (in 000’s) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation preference per share | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value(g) | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 25,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Asset coverage per share(h) | $ | 108,305 | $ | 105,562 | $ | 123,830 | $ | 102,426 | $ | 118,593 | ||||||||||||||||||||
5.000% Series G Preferred | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value, end of year (in 000’s) | $ | 69,495 | $ | 69,495 | $ | 69,495 | $ | 69,743 | $ | 69,925 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total shares outstanding (in 000’s) | 2,780 | 2,780 | 2,780 | 2,791 | 2,797 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation preference per share | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Average market value(j) | $ | 24.57 | $ | 23.92 | $ | 24.50 | $ | 24.67 | $ | 23.78 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Asset coverage per share(h) | $ | 108.30 | $ | 105.56 | $ | 123.83 | $ | 102.43 | $ | 118.59 | ||||||||||||||||||||
5.000% Series H Preferred | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value, end of year (in 000’s) | $ | 104,322 | $ | 104,322 | $ | 104,322 | $ | 104,494 | $ | 104,644 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total shares outstanding (in 000’s) | 4,173 | 4,173 | 4,173 | 4,180 | 4,186 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation preference per share | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Average market value(j) | $ | 24.68 | $ | 24.18 | $ | 24.64 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 24.33 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Asset coverage per share(h) | $ | 108.30 | $ | 105.56 | $ | 123.83 | $ | 102.43 | $ | 118.59 |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
18
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Financial Highlights (Continued)
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5.450% Series J Preferred | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value, end of year (in 000’s) | $ | 80,000 | $ | 80,000 | $ | 80,000 | $ | 80,000 | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
Total shares outstanding (in 000’s) | 3,200 | 3,200 | 3,200 | 3,200 | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation preference per share | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | $ | 25.00 | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
Average market value(j) | $ | 25.98 | $ | 25.14 | $ | 25.36 | $ | 25.43 | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
Asset coverage per share(h) | $ | 108.30 | $ | 105.56 | $ | 123.83 | $ | 102.43 | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
5.000% Series K Preferred | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation value, end of year (in 000’s) | $ | 100,000 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total shares outstanding (in 000’s) | 4,000 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liquidation preference per share | $ | 25.00 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Average market value(j) | $ | 25.24 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asset coverage per share(h) | $ | 108.30 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asset Coverage(k) | 433 | % | 422 | % | 495 | % | 410 | % | 474 | % |
† | Based on net asset value per share, adjusted for reinvestment of distributions at net asset value on theex-dividend dates and adjustments for the rights offering. |
†† | Based on market value per share, adjusted for reinvestment of distributions at prices determined under the Fund’s dividend reinvestment plan. |
(a) | Calculated based on average common shares outstanding on the record dates throughout the years. |
(b) | Amount represents less than $0.005 per share. |
(c) | The Fund received credits from a designated broker who agreed to pay certain Fund operating expenses. For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015, there was no impact on the expense ratios. |
(d) | Ratio of operating expenses to average net assets including liquidation value of preferred shares before fee reductions for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015 would have been 1.03%, 1.09%, 1.10%, 1.10%, and 1.10%, respectively. |
(e) | Ratio of operating expenses to average net assets includes reversal of auction agent fees from earlier fiscal periods as disclosed on the Statement of Operations. The ratio of operating expenses to average net assets attributable to common shares and the ratio of operating expenses to average net assets including liquidation value of preferred shares, excluding the reversal of auction agent fees, were 1.39% and 1.08%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2019. See Note 5 for disclosure. |
(f) | Ratio of operating expenses to average net assets including liquidation value of preferred shares net of fee reductions for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015 would have been 1.03%, 1.01%, 1.10%, 1.10%, and 1.01%, respectively. |
(g) | Since February 2008, the weekly auctions have failed. Holders that have submitted orders have not been able to sell any or all of their shares in the auction. |
(h) | Asset coverage per share is calculated by combining all series of preferred stock. |
(i) | The Fund redeemed and retired all of the 2,363,860 shares of Series D Preferred Stock on December 26, 2019. |
(j) | Based on weekly prices. |
(k) | Asset coverage is calculated by combining all series of preferred stock. |
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
19
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements
1. Organization.The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. (the Fund) is anon-diversifiedclosed-end management investment company organized as a Maryland corporation on May 20, 1986 and registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act), whose primary objective is long term growth of capital with income as a secondary objective. Investment operations commenced on August 21, 1986.
The Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in equity securities under normal market conditions (the 80% Policy). The 80% Policy may be changed without shareholder approval. The Fund will provide shareholders with notice at least sixty days prior to the implementation of any changes in the 80% Policy.
2. Significant Accounting Policies.As an investment company, the Fund follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance, which is part of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) that may require the use of management estimates and assumptions in the preparation of its financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements.
New Accounting Pronouncements.To improve the effectiveness of fair value disclosure requirements, the Financial Accounting Standards Board recently issued Accounting Standard Update (ASU)2018-13, Fair Value Measurement Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement (ASU2018-13), which adds, removes, and modifies certain aspects relating to fair value disclosure. ASU2018-13 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019; early adoption of the additions relating to ASU2018-13 is not required, even if early adoption is elected for the removals and modifications under ASU2018-13. Management has early adopted the removals and modifications set forth in ASU2018-13 in these financial statements and has not early adopted the additions set forth in ASU2018-13.
Security Valuation.Portfolio securities listed or traded on a nationally recognized securities exchange or traded in the U.S.over-the-counter market for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the last quoted sale price or a market’s official closing price as of the close of business on the day the securities are being valued. If there were no sales that day, the security is valued at the average of the closing bid and asked prices or, if there were no asked prices quoted on that day, then the security is valued at the closing bid price on that day. If no bid or asked prices are quoted on such day, the security is valued at the most recently available price or, if the Board of Directors (the Board) so determines, by such other method as the Board shall determine in good faith to reflect its fair market value. Portfolio securities traded on more than one national securities exchange or market are valued according to the broadest and most representative market, as determined by Gabelli Funds, LLC (the Adviser).
Portfolio securities primarily traded on a foreign market are generally valued at the preceding closing values of such securities on the relevant market, but may be fair valued pursuant to procedures established by the Board if market conditions change significantly after the close of the foreign market, but prior to the close of business on the day the securities are being valued. Debt obligations for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the average of the latest bid and asked prices. If there were no asked prices quoted on such day, the securities are valued using the closing bid price, unless the Board determines such amount does not reflect the securities’ fair value, in which case these securities will be fair valued as determined by the Board. Certain securities are valued principally using dealer quotations. Futures contracts are valued at the closing settlement price of the exchange or board of trade on which the applicable contract is traded. OTC futures and options on futures for which market quotations are readily available will be valued by quotations
20
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
received from a pricing service or, if no quotations are available from a pricing service, by quotations obtained from one or more dealers in the instrument in question by the Adviser.
Securities and assets for which market quotations are not readily available are fair valued as determined by the Board. Fair valuation methodologies and procedures may include, but are not limited to: analysis and review of available financial andnon-financial information about the company; comparisons with the valuation and changes in valuation of similar securities, including a comparison of foreign securities with the equivalent U.S. dollar value American Depositary Receipt securities at the close of the U.S. exchange; and evaluation of any other information that could be indicative of the value of the security.
The inputs and valuation techniques used to measure fair value of the Fund’s investments are summarized into three levels as described in the hierarchy below:
● | Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical securities; |
● | Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.); and |
● | Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Board’s determinations as to the fair value of investments). |
21
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
A financial instrument’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of any input both individually and in the aggregate that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs or methodology used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities. The summary of the Fund’s investments in securities and other financial instruments by inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2019 is as follows:
Valuation Inputs | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Level 1 Quoted Prices | Level 2 Other Significant Observable Inputs | Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs | Total Market Value at 12/31/19 | |||||||||||||||||||
INVESTMENTS IN SECURITIES: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
ASSETS (Market Value): | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Common Stocks: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Aerospace and Defense | $ | 45,451,859 | $ | 73,667 | — | $ | 45,525,526 | |||||||||||||||
Diversified Industrial | 98,130,401 | 536,250 | — | 98,666,651 | ||||||||||||||||||
Energy and Utilities | 71,683,973 | — | $ | 3 | 71,683,976 | |||||||||||||||||
Telecommunications | 42,857,409 | — | 77,032 | 42,934,441 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other Industries (a) | 1,624,494,984 | — | — | 1,624,494,984 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total Common Stocks | 1,882,618,626 | 609,917 | 77,035 | 1,883,305,578 | ||||||||||||||||||
Closed-End Funds | 5,736,658 | 1,971,250 | — | 7,707,908 | ||||||||||||||||||
Convertible Preferred Stocks (a) | 997,500 | — | — | 997,500 | ||||||||||||||||||
Rights (a) | 4,515 | — | 0 | 4,515 | ||||||||||||||||||
U.S. Government Obligations | — | 67,881,432 | — | 67,881,432 | ||||||||||||||||||
TOTAL INVESTMENTS IN SECURITIES – ASSETS | $ | 1,889,357,299 | $ | 70,462,599 | $ | 77,035 | (b) | $ | 1,959,896,933 | |||||||||||||
OTHER FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS:* | ||||||||||||||||||||||
LIABILITIES (Net Unrealized Depreciation): | ||||||||||||||||||||||
EQUITY CONTRACTS | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Index Futures Contracts - Short Position | $ | (261,625 | ) | — | — | $ | (261,625 | ) |
(a) | Please refer to the Schedule of Investments (SOI) for the industry classifications of these portfolio holdings. |
(b) | Level 3 securities are valued by intrinsic value and last price analysis. At December 31, 2019, the value of these securities was $77,035. The inputs for these securities are not readily available and are derived based on the judgment of the Adviser according to procedures approved by the Board of Directors. |
* | Other financial instruments are derivatives reflected in the SOI, such as options, futures, forwards, and swaps, which may be valued at the unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) of the instrument. |
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not have material transfers into or out of Level 3.
Additional Information to Evaluate Qualitative Information.
General.The Fund uses recognized industry pricing services – approved by the Board and unaffiliated with the Adviser – to value most of its securities, and uses broker quotes provided by market makers of securities not valued by these and other recognized pricing sources. Several different pricing feeds are received to value domestic equity securities, international equity securities, preferred equity securities, and fixed income securities. The data within these feeds are ultimately sourced from major stock exchanges and trading systems where these securities trade. The prices supplied by external sources are checked by obtaining quotations or actual transaction prices from market participants. If a price obtained from the pricing source is deemed unreliable, prices will be sought from another pricing service or from a broker/dealer that trades that security or similar securities.
Fair Valuation.Fair valued securities may be common or preferred equities, warrants, options, rights, or fixed income obligations. Where appropriate, Level 3 securities are those for which market quotations are not
22
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
available, such as securities not traded for several days, or for which current bids are not available, or which are restricted as to transfer. Among the factors to be considered to fair value a security are recent prices of comparable securities that are publicly traded, reliable prices of securities not publicly traded, the use of valuation models, current analyst reports, valuing the income or cash flow of the issuer, or cost if the preceding factors do not apply. A significant change in the unobservable inputs could result in a lower or higher value in Level 3 securities. The circumstances of Level 3 securities are frequently monitored to determine if fair valuation measures continue to apply.
The Adviser reports quarterly to the Board the results of the application of fair valuation policies and procedures. These may include backtesting the prices realized in subsequent trades of these fair valued securities to fair values previously recognized.
Derivative Financial Instruments.The Fund may engage in various portfolio investment strategies by investing in derivative financial instruments for the purposes of increasing the income of the Fund, hedging against changes in the value of its portfolio securities and in the value of securities it intends to purchase, or hedging against a specific transaction with respect to either the currency in which the transaction is denominated or another currency. Investing in certain derivative financial instruments, including participation in the options, futures, or swap markets, entails certain execution, liquidity, hedging, tax, and securities, interest, credit, or currency market risks. Losses may arise if the Adviser’s prediction of movements in the direction of the securities, foreign currency, and interest rate markets is inaccurate. Losses may also arise if the counterparty does not perform its duties under a contract, or, in the event of default, the Fund may be delayed in or prevented from obtaining payments or other contractual remedies owed to it under derivative contracts. The creditworthiness of the counterparties is closely monitored in order to minimize these risks. Participation in derivative transactions involves investment risks, transaction costs, and potential losses to which the Fund would not be subject absent the use of these strategies. The consequences of these risks, transaction costs, and losses may have a negative impact on the Fund’s ability to pay distributions.
Collateral requirements differ by type of derivative. Collateral requirements are set by the broker or exchange clearing house for exchange traded derivatives, while collateral terms are contract specific for derivatives tradedover-the-counter. Securities pledged to cover obligations of the Fund under derivative contracts are noted in the Schedule of Investments. Cash collateral, if any, pledged for the same purpose will be reported separately as Deposit at brokers, in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
The Fund’s policy with respect to offsetting is that, absent an event of default by the counterparty or a termination of the agreement, the master agreement does not result in an offset of reported amounts of financial assets and financial liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities across transactions between the Fund and the applicable counterparty. The enforceability of the right to offset may vary by jurisdiction.
The Fund’s derivative contracts held at December 31, 2019, if any, are not accounted for as hedging instruments under GAAP and are disclosed in the Schedule of Investments together with the related counterparty.
Futures Contracts.The Fund may engage in futures contracts for the purpose of hedging against changes in the value of its portfolio securities and in the value of securities it intends to purchase. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to deposit with the broker an amount of cash or cash equivalents equal to a certain percentage of the contract amount. This is known as the “initial margin.” Subsequent payments
23
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
(variation margin) are made or received by the Fund each day, depending on the daily fluctuations in the value of the contract, and are included in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts. The Fund recognizes a realized gain or loss when the contract is closed.
There are several risks in connection with the use of futures contracts as a hedging instrument. The change in value of futures contracts primarily corresponds with the value of their underlying instruments, which may not correlate with the change in value of the hedged investments. In addition, there is the risk that the Fund may not be able to enter into a closing transaction because of an illiquid secondary market. Open positions in futures contracts at December 31, 2019 are reflected within the Schedule of Investments.
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund held an average monthly notional amount of equity futures contracts of approximately $17,193,394.
As of December 31, 2019, the equity risk exposure associated with the futures contracts can be found in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities, under Liabilities, Variation margin payable. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the effect of futures contracts with equity risk exposure can be found in the Statement of Operations, under Net Realized and Unrealized Gain/(Loss) on Investments, Futures Contracts, and Foreign Currency; Net realized loss on futures contracts; and Net change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts.
Limitations on the Purchase and Sale of Futures Contracts, Certain Options, and Swaps.Subject to the guidelines of the Board, the Fund may engage in “commodity interest” transactions (generally, transactions in futures, certain options, certain currency transactions, and certain types of swaps) only for bona fide hedging or other permissible transactions in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Pursuant to amendments by the CFTC to Rule 4.5 under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), the Adviser has filed a notice of exemption from registration as a “commodity pool operator” with respect to the Fund. The Fund and the Adviser are therefore not subject to registration or regulation as a commodity pool operator under the CEA. In addition, certain trading restrictions are now applicable to the Fund which permit the Fund to engage in commodity interest transactions that include (i) “bona fide hedging” transactions, as that term is defined and interpreted by the CFTC and its staff, without regard to the percentage of the Fund’s assets committed to margin and options premiums and(ii) non-bona fide hedging transactions, provided that the Fund does not enter into suchnon-bona fide hedging transactions if, immediately thereafter, either (a) the sum of the amount of initial margin deposits on the Fund’s existing futures positions or swaps positions and option or swaption premiums would exceed 5% of the market value of the Fund’s liquidating value, after taking into account unrealized profits and unrealized losses on any such transactions, or (b) the aggregate net notional value of the Fund’s commodity interest transactions would not exceed 100% of the market value of the Fund’s liquidating value, after taking into account unrealized profits and unrealized losses on any such transactions. Therefore, in order to claim the Rule 4.5 exemption, the Fund is limited in its ability to invest in commodity futures, options, and certain types of swaps (including securities futures, broad based stock index futures, and financial futures contracts). As a result, in the future the Fund will be more limited in its ability to use these instruments than in the past, and these limitations may have a negative impact on the ability of the Adviser to manage the Fund, and on the Fund’s performance.
Investments in Other Investment Companies.The Fund may invest, from time to time, in shares of other investment companies (or entities that would be considered investment companies but are excluded from the definition pursuant to certain exceptions under the 1940 Act) (the Acquired Funds) in accordance with the 1940
24
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
Act and related rules. Shareholders in the Fund would bear the pro rata portion of the periodic expenses of the Acquired Funds in addition to the Fund’s expenses. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund’s pro rata portion of the periodic expenses charged by the Acquired Funds was less than one basis point.
Foreign Currency Translations.The books and records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currencies, investments, and other assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars at current exchange rates. Purchases and sales of investment securities, income, and expenses are translated at the exchange rate prevailing on the respective dates of such transactions. Unrealized gains and losses that result from changes in foreign exchange rates and/or changes in market prices of securities have been included in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments and foreign currency translations. Net realized foreign currency gains and losses resulting from changes in exchange rates include foreign currency gains and losses between trade date and settlement date on investment securities transactions, foreign currency transactions, and the difference between the amounts of interest and dividends recorded on the books of the Fund and the amounts actually received. The portion of foreign currency gains and losses related to fluctuation in exchange rates between the initial purchase trade date and subsequent sale trade date is included in realized gain/(loss) on investments.
Foreign Securities.The Fund may directly purchase securities of foreign issuers. Investing in securities of foreign issuers involves special risks not typically associated with investing in securities of U.S. issuers. The risks include possible revaluation of currencies, the inability to repatriate funds, less complete financial information about companies, and possible future adverse political and economic developments. Moreover, securities of many foreign issuers and their markets may be less liquid and their prices more volatile than securities of comparable U.S. issuers.
Foreign Taxes.The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes on income, gains on investments, or currency repatriation, a portion of which may be recoverable. The Fund will accrue such taxes and recoveries as applicable, based upon its current interpretation of tax rules and regulations that exist in the markets in which it invests.
Restricted Securities.The Fund may invest up to 10% of its net assets in securities for which the markets are restricted. Restricted securities include securities whose disposition is subject to substantial legal or contractual restrictions. The sale of restricted securities often requires more time and results in higher brokerage charges or dealer discounts and other selling expenses than the sale of securities eligible for trading on national securities exchanges or in theover-the-counter markets. Restricted securities may sell at a price lower than similar securities that are not subject to restrictions on resale. Securities freely saleable among qualified institutional investors under special rules adopted by the SEC may be treated as liquid if they satisfy liquidity standards established by the Board. The continued liquidity of such securities is not as well assured as that of publicly traded securities, and, accordingly, the Board will monitor their liquidity. At December 31, 2019, the Fund held no restricted securities.
Securities Transactions and Investment Income.Securities transactions are accounted for on the trade date with realized gain/(loss) on investments determined by using the identified cost method. Interest income (including amortization of premium and accretion of discount) is recorded on an accrual basis. Premiums and discounts on debt securities are amortized using the effective yield to maturity method. Dividend income is recorded on theex-dividend date, except for certain dividends from foreign securities that are recorded as soon after theex-dividend date as the Fund becomes aware of such dividends.
25
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
Custodian Fee Credits and Interest Expense.When cash balances are maintained in the custody account, the Fund receives credits which are used to offset custodian fess. The gross expenses paid under the custody arrangement are included in custodian fees in the Statement of Operations with the corresponding expense offset, if any, shown as “Custodian fee credits.” When cash balances are overdrawn, the Fund is charged an overdraft fee of 110% of the 90 day U.S. Treasury Bill rate on outstanding balances. This amount, if any, would be included in the Statement of Operations.
Distributions to Shareholders.Distributions to common shareholders are recorded on theex-dividend date. Distributions to shareholders are based on income and capital gains as determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from income and capital gains as determined under GAAP. These differences are primarily due to differing treatments of income and gains on various investment securities and foreign currency transactions held by the Fund, timing differences, and differing characterizations of distributions made by the Fund. Distributions from net investment income for federal income tax purposes include net realized gains on foreign currency transactions. These book/tax differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent, adjustments are made to the appropriate capital accounts in the period when the differences arise. Permanent differences were primarily due to the sale of investments no longer considered passive foreign investment companies, reversal of prior year income, real estate investment trusts, and disallowed expenses. These reclassifications have no impact on the NAV of the Fund. For the year ended December 31, 2019, reclassifications were made to increasepaid-in capital by $10,931, with an offsetting adjustment to total distributable earnings.
Under the Fund’s current common share distribution policy, the Fund declares and pays quarterly distributions from net investment income, capital gains, andpaid-in capital. The actual source of the distribution is determined after the end of the year. Pursuant to this policy, distributions during the year may be made in excess of required distributions. To the extent such distributions are made from current earnings and profits, they are considered ordinary income or long term capital gains. Distributions sourced frompaid-in capital should not be considered as dividend yield or the total return from an investment in the Fund. The Board will continue to monitor the Fund’s distribution level, taking into consideration the Fund’s NAV and the financial market environment. The Fund’s distribution policy is subject to modification by the Board at any time.
Distributions to shareholders of the Fund’s Series C Auction Rate Cumulative Preferred Stock, Series E Auction Rate Cumulative Preferred Stock, 5.000% Series G Cumulative Preferred Stock, 5.000% Series H Cumulative Preferred Stock, 5.450% Series J Cumulative Preferred Stock, and 5.000% Series K Cumulative Preferred Stock (Preferred Stock) are recorded on a daily basis and are determined as described in Note 5.
26
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 was as follows:
Year Ended | Year Ended | |||||||||||||||
December 31, 2019 | December 31, 2018 | |||||||||||||||
Common | Preferred | Common | Preferred | |||||||||||||
Distributions paid from: | ||||||||||||||||
Ordinary income (inclusive of short term capital gains) | $ | 14,064,397 | $ | 2,072,201 | $ | 15,785,455 | $ | 2,043,324 | ||||||||
Net long term capital gains | 125,144,108 | 18,438,312 | 136,915,175 | 17,722,772 | ||||||||||||
Return of capital | 13,631,522 | — | 8,979,028 | — | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||
Total distributions paid | $ | 152,840,027 | $ | 20,510,513 | $ | 161,679,658 | $ | 19,766,096 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Provision for Income Taxes.The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). It is the policy of the Fund to comply with the requirements of the Code applicable to regulated investment companies and to distribute substantially all of its net investment company taxable income and net capital gains. Therefore, no provision for federal income taxes is required.
As of December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings/losses on a tax basis were as follows:
Net unrealized appreciation on investments and foreign currency translations | $660,841,962 | |||
Other temporary differences* | (431,127 | ) | ||
|
| |||
Total | $660,410,835 | |||
|
|
* | Other temporary differences are due to preferred share class distributions payable. |
At December 31, 2019, the temporary differences between book basis and tax basis unrealized appreciation were primarily due to deferral of losses from wash sales for tax purposes, outstanding basis adjustments on investments,mark-to market adjustments on currency, basis adjustments on partnerships.
The following summarizes the tax cost of investments and derivatives and the related net unrealized appreciation at December 31, 2019:
Gross | Gross | |||||||||||||||
Unrealized | Unrealized | Net Unrealized | ||||||||||||||
Cost | Appreciation | Depreciation | Appreciation | |||||||||||||
Investments and derivative instruments | $1,299,059,316 | $754,860,899 | $(94,023,282) | $660,837,617 |
The Fund is required to evaluate tax positions taken or expected to be taken in the course of preparing the Fund’s tax returns to determine whether the tax positions are“more-likely-than-not” of being sustained by the applicable tax authority. Income tax and related interest and penalties would be recognized by the Fund as tax expense in the Statement of Operations if the tax positions were deemed not to meet themore-likely-than-not threshold. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not incur any income tax, interest, or penalties. As of December 31, 2019, the Adviser has reviewed all open tax years and concluded that there was no impact to the Fund’s net assets or results of operations. The Fund’s federal and state tax returns for the prior three fiscal years remain open, subject to examination. On an ongoing basis, the Adviser will monitor the Fund’s tax positions to determine if adjustments to this conclusion are necessary.
3. Investment Advisory Agreement and Other Transactions.The Fund has entered into an investment advisory agreement (the Advisory Agreement) with the Adviser which provides that the Fund will pay the Adviser a fee, computed weekly and paid monthly, equal on an annual basis to 1.00% of the value of the Fund’s average weekly net assets including the liquidation value of preferred stock. In accordance with the Advisory
27
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
Agreement, the Adviser provides a continuous investment program for the Fund’s portfolio and oversees the administration of all aspects of the Fund’s business and affairs.
As per the approval of the Board, the Fund compensates officers of the Fund, who are employed by the Fund and are not employed by the Adviser (although the officers may receive incentive based variable compensation from affiliates of the Adviser). During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund accrued $146,366 in payroll expenses in the Statement of Operations.
The Adviser has agreed to reduce the management fee on the incremental assets attributable to the Series C and Series E Preferred Stock (C and E Preferred Stock) if the total return of the NAV of the common shares of the Fund, including distributions and advisory fee subject to reduction, does not exceed the stated dividend rate of the C and E Preferred Stock for the year. The Fund’s total return on the NAV of the common shares is monitored on a monthly basis to assess whether the total return on the NAV of the common shares exceeds the stated dividend rate of the C and E Preferred Stock for the period. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund’s total return on the NAV of the common shares exceeded the dividend rate of the outstanding C and E Preferred Stock. Thus, advisory fees of the C and E Preferred Stock were accrued.
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund paid $123,655 in brokerage commissions on security trades to G.research, LLC, an affiliate of the Adviser.
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund received credits from a designated broker who agreed to pay certain Fund operating expenses. The amount of such expenses paid through this directed brokerage arrangement during this period was $13,980.
The cost of calculating the Fund’s NAV per share is a Fund expense pursuant to the Advisory Agreement between the Fund and the Adviser. Under thesub-administration agreement with Bank of New York Mellon, the fees paid include the cost of calculating the Fund’s NAV. The Fund reimburses the Adviser for this service. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund accrued $45,000 in accounting fees in the Statement of Operations.
There was a reduction in the advisory fee paid to the Adviser relating to certain portfolio holdings, i.e., unsupervised assets, of the Fund with respect to which the Adviser transferred dispositive and voting control to the Fund’s Proxy Voting Committee. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund’s Proxy Voting Committee exercised control and discretion over all rights to vote or consent with respect to such securities, and the Adviser reduced its fee with respect to such securities by $8,345.
The Fund pays each Director who is not considered an affiliated person an annual retainer of $15,000 plus $2,000 for each Board meeting attended. Each Director is reimbursed by the Fund for any out of pocket expenses incurred in attending meetings. All Board committee members receive $1,000 per meeting attended. The Audit Committee Chairman receives an annual fee of $3,000, and the Nominating Committee Chairman and the Lead Director each receives an annual fee of $2,000. A Director may receive a single meeting fee, allocated among the participating funds, for participation in certain meetings held on behalf of multiple funds. Directors who are directors or employees of the Adviser or an affiliated company receive no compensation or expense reimbursement from the Fund.
28
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
The Fund engaged in a purchase transaction with a fund that has a common investment adviser. This purchase transaction complied with Rule17a-7 under the Act and amounted to $856.900.
4. Portfolio Securities.Purchases and sales of securities during the year ended December 31, 2019, other than short term securities and U.S. Government obligations, aggregated $205,039,982 and $343,879,123, respectively.
5. Capital.The Fund’s Articles of Incorporation, as amended, permit the Fund to issue 337,024,900 shares of common stock (par value $0.001) and authorizes the Board to increase its authorized shares from time to time. The Board has authorized the repurchase of its shares on the open market when the shares are trading on the NYSE at a discount of 10% or more (or such other percentage as the Board may determine from time to time) from the NAV of the shares. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Fund did not repurchase any shares of its common stock in the open market.
Transactions in shares of common stock were as follows:
Year Ended | Year Ended | |||||||||||||||
December 31, 2019 | December 31, 2018 | |||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | |||||||||||||
Increase from common shares issued upon reinvestment of distributions | 3,734,016 | $ | 21,764,586 | 1,225,559 | $ | 7,658,026 |
The Fund has an effective shelf registration initially authorizing the offering of an additional $500 million of common or preferred shares. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund has approximately $227 million available for issuance under the current shelf registration.
The Fund’s Articles of Incorporation, as amended, authorize the issuance of up to 18,000,000 shares of $0.001 par value Preferred Stock. The Preferred Stock is senior to the common stock and results in the financial leveraging of the common stock. Such leveraging tends to magnify both the risks and opportunities to common shareholders. Dividends on shares of the Preferred Stock are cumulative. The Fund is required by the 1940 Act and by the Fund’s Articles Supplementary to meet certain asset coverage tests with respect to the Preferred Stock. If the Fund fails to meet these requirements and does not correct such failure, the Fund may be required to redeem, in part or in full, the Series C, Series E, Series G, Series H, Series J, and Series K Preferred Stock at redemption prices of $25,000, $25,000, $25, $25, $25, and $25, respectively, per share plus an amount equal to the accumulated and unpaid dividends whether or not declared on such shares in order to meet these requirements. Additionally, failure to meet the foregoing asset coverage requirements could restrict the Fund’s ability to pay dividends to common shareholders and could lead to sales of portfolio securities at inopportune times. The income received on the Fund’s assets may vary in a manner unrelated to the fixed and variable rates, which could have either a beneficial or detrimental impact on net investment income and gains available to common shareholders.
For Series C and Series E Preferred Stock, the dividend rates, as set by the auction process that is generally held every seven days, are expected to vary with short term interest rates. Since February 2008, the number of shares of Series C and Series E Preferred Stock subject to bid orders by potential holders has been less than the number of shares of Series C and Series E Preferred Stock subject to sell orders. Holders that have submitted sell orders have not been able to sell any or all of the Series C and Series E Preferred Stock for which they have submitted sell orders. Therefore, the weekly auctions have failed, and the dividend rate has
29
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
been the maximum rate. For Series C and Series E Preferred Stock, the maximum auction rate is 175% of the “AA” Financial Composite Commercial Paper Rate. Existing Series C and Series E shareholders may submit an order to hold, bid, or sell such shares on each auction date, or trade their shares in the secondary market.
In earlier fiscal years, the Fund recorded auction agent fees based on estimated costs of the weekly auctions. As recent auctions have failed, these accruals of estimated fees were reversed.
The Fund may redeem at any time, in whole or in part, the Series C, Series E, Series G, and Series H Preferred Stock at their respective liquidation prices plus any accrued and unpaid dividends. In addition, the Board has authorized the repurchase of the Series J and Series K Preferred Stock in the open market at a price less than the $25 liquidation value per share. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Fund did not repurchase or redeem any shares of Series C, Series E, Series G, Series H, or Series J Preferred Stock. On December 26, 2019, the Fund redeemed and retired 2,363,860 outstanding shares of Series D Preferred Stock at the liquidation value of $59,096,500.
On December 16, 2019, the Fund issued 4,000,000 shares of 5.000% Series K Cumulative Preferred Shares (Series K) receiving $96,525,000 , after the deduction of estimated offering expenses of $325,000 and underwriting fees of $3,150,000. The liquidation value of the Series K is $25 per share. The Series K has an annual dividend rate of 5.000%. The Series K is non callable before December 16, 2024.
The Fund has the authority to purchase its auction rate Series C and Series E preferred shares through negotiated private transactions. The Fund is not obligated to purchase any dollar amount or number of auction rate preferred shares, and the timing and amount of any auction rate preferred shares purchased will depend on market conditions, share price, capital availability, and other factors. The Fund is not soliciting holders to sell these shares nor recommending that holders offer them to the Fund. Any offers can be accepted or rejected in the Fund’s discretion.
The following table summarizes Cumulative Preferred Stock information:
Series | Issue Date | Authorized | Number of Shares Outstanding at 12/31/19 | Net Proceeds | 2019 Dividend Rate Range | Dividend Rate at 12/31/19 | Accrued Dividends at 12/31/19 | |||||||||||||||
C Auction Rate | June 27, 2002 | 5,200 | 2,880 | $ | 128,246,557 | 2.678% to 4.360% | 2.678% | $ | 33,152 | |||||||||||||
E Auction Rate | October 7, 2003 | 2,000 | 1,120 | $ | 49,350,009 | 2.696% to 4.360% | 2.731% | $ | 8,380 | |||||||||||||
G 5.000% | August 1, 2012 | 3,280,477 | 2,779,796 | $ | 69,407,417 | Fixed Rate | 5.000% | $ | 48,260 | |||||||||||||
H 5.000% | September 28, 2012 | 4,198,880 | 4,172,873 | $ | 100,865,695 | Fixed Rate | 5.000% | $ | 72,446 | |||||||||||||
J 5.450% | March 28, 2016 | 4,500,000 | 3,200,000 | $ | 77,212,332 | Fixed Rate | 5.450% | $ | 60,556 | |||||||||||||
K 5.000% | December 16, 2019 | 4,000,000 | 4,000,000 | $ | 96,525,000 | Fixed Rate | 5.000% | $ | 208,333 |
The holders of Preferred Stock generally are entitled to one vote per share held on each matter submitted to a vote of shareholders of the Fund and will vote together with holders of common stock as a single class. The holders of Preferred Stock voting together as a single class also have the right currently to elect two Directors and, under certain circumstances, are entitled to elect a majority of the Board of Directors. In addition, the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of all outstanding shares of the preferred stock, voting as a single class, will be required to approve any plan of reorganization adversely affecting the preferred stock, and the approval oftwo-thirds of each class, voting separately, of the Fund’s outstanding voting stock must approve the conversion of the Fund from aclosed-end to anopen-end investment company. The approval of a majority (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the outstanding preferred stock and a majority (as defined
30
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements (Continued)
in the 1940 Act) of the Fund’s outstanding voting securities are required to approve certain other actions, including changes in the Fund’s investment objectives or fundamental investment policies.
6. Indemnifications.The Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown. However, the Fund has not had prior claims or losses pursuant to these contracts. Management has reviewed the Fund’s existing contracts and expects the risk of loss to be remote.
7. Subsequent Events.Management has evaluated the impact on the Fund of all subsequent events occurring through the date the financial statements were issued and has determined that there were no subsequent events requiring recognition or disclosure in the financial statements.
31
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of investments, of The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. (the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statement of changes in net assets attributable to common shareholders for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2019, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period ended December 31, 2019 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets attributable to common shareholders for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2019 and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period ended December 31, 2019 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
New York, New York
February 27, 2020
We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex since 1986.
32
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Additional Fund Information (Unaudited)
The business and affairs of the Fund are managed under the direction of the Fund’s Board of Directors. Information pertaining to the Directors and officers of the Fund is set forth below. The Fund’s Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Fund’s Directors and officers and is available without charge, upon request, by calling800-GABELLI(800-422-3554) or by writing to The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. at One Corporate Center, Rye, NY 10580-1422.
Name, Position(s) Address1 and Age | Term of Office and Length of Time Served2 | Number of Funds in Fund Complex Overseen by Director | Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years | Other Directorships Held by Director3 | ||||
INTERESTED DIRECTORS4: | ||||||||
Mario J. Gabelli, CFA Chairman and Chief Investment Officer Age: 77 |
Since 1986*** |
33 |
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer– Value Portfolios of GAMCO Investors, Inc. and Chief Investment Officer– Value Portfolios of Gabelli Funds, LLC and GAMCO Asset Management Inc.; Director/Trustee or Chief Investment Officer of other registered investment companies within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex; Chief Executive Officer of GGCP, Inc.; Executive Chairman of Associated Capital Group, Inc. |
Director of Morgan Group Holdings, Inc. (holding company) (2001-2019); Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of LICT Corp. (multimedia and communication services company); Director of CIBL, Inc. (broadcasting and wireless communications); Director of ICTC Group Inc. (communications) (2013-2018) | ||||
INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS5: | ||||||||
James P. Conn6 Director Age: 81 |
Since 1989** |
24 |
Former Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd. (1992-1998) |
— | ||||
Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.7 Director Age: 80 |
Since 1998* |
12 |
Co-Chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates; Former President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Gaming Association (1995-2013); Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee (1983-1989) |
Director of First Republic Bank (banking); Director of Eldorado Resorts, Inc. (casino entertainment company) | ||||
Michael J. Ferrantino Director Age: 48 |
Since 2017** |
2 |
Chief Executive Officer of InterEx Inc. |
— | ||||
William F. Heitmann Director Age: 70 |
Since 2012*** |
4 |
Managing Director and Senior Advisor of Perlmutter Investment Company (real estate); Senior Vice President of Finance, Verizon Communications, and President, Verizon Investment Management (1971-2011) |
Director and Audit Chair of Syncreon (contract logistics provider) | ||||
Kuni Nakamura6 Director Age: 51 |
Since 2018* |
33 |
President of Advanced Polymer, Inc. (chemical manufacturing company); President of KEN Enterprises, Inc. (real estate) |
— | ||||
Salvatore J. Zizza8 Director Age: 74 |
Since 1986* |
31 |
President of Zizza & Associates Corp. (private holding company); President of Bergen Cove Realty Inc.; Chairman of Harbor Diversified, Inc. (pharmaceuticals) (2009-2018); Chairman of BAM (semiconductor and aerospace manufacturing) (2000-2018); Chairman of Metropolitan Paper Recycling Inc. (recycling) (2005-2014) |
Director and Chairman of Trans-Lux Corporation (business services); Director and Chairman of Harbor Diversified Inc. (pharmaceuticals) (2009-2018) |
33
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Additional Fund Information (Continued) (Unaudited)
Name, Position(s) Address1 and Age | Term of Office and Length of Time Served2 | Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years | ||
OFFICERS: | ||||
Bruce N. Alpert President Age: 68 |
Since 1988 |
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Gabelli Funds, LLC since 1988; Officer of registered investment companies within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex; Senior Vice President of GAMCO Investors, Inc. since 2008 | ||
John C. Ball Treasurer Age: 43 |
Since 2017 |
Treasurer of funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex since 2017; Vice President and Assistant Treasurer of AMG Funds, 2014-2017; Vice President of State Street Corporation, 2007-2014 | ||
Agnes Mullady Vice President Age: 61 |
Since 2006 |
Officer of registered investment companies within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex since 2006; President and Chief Operating Officer of the Fund Division of Gabelli Funds, LLC since 2015; Chief Executive Officer of G.distributors, LLC since 2010; Senior Vice President of GAMCO Investors, Inc. since 2009; Vice President of Gabelli Funds, LLC since 2007; Executive Vice President of Associated Capital Group, Inc. since 2016 | ||
Andrea R. Mango Secretary and Vice President Age: 47 |
Since 2013 |
Vice President of GAMCO Investors, Inc. since 2016; Counsel of Gabelli Funds, LLC since 2013; Secretary of registered investment companies within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex since 2013; Vice President ofclosed-end funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex since 2014 | ||
Richard J. Walz Chief Compliance Officer Age: 60 |
Since 2013 |
Chief Compliance Officer of registered investment companies within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex since 2013 | ||
Molly A.F. Marion Vice President and Ombudsman Age: 65 |
Since 2009 |
Vice President and/or Ombudsman ofclosed-end funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex; Vice President of GAMCO Investors, Inc. since 2012 | ||
Carter W. Austin Vice President Age: 53 |
Since 2000 |
Vice President and/or Ombudsman ofclosed-end funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex; Senior Vice President (since 2015) and Vice President (1996-2015) of Gabelli Funds, LLC | ||
David I. Schachter Vice President Age: 66 |
Since 2013 |
Vice President and/or Ombudsman ofclosed-end funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex; Senior Vice President (since 2015) and Vice President (1999-2015) of G.research, LLC |
34
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Additional Fund Information (Continued) (Unaudited)
1 | Address: One Corporate Center, Rye, NY 10580-1422, unless otherwise noted. |
2 | The Fund’s Board of Directors is divided into three classes, each class having a term of three years. Each year the term of office of one class expires and the successor or successors elected to such class serve for a three year term. The three year term for each class expires as follows: |
* | Term expires at the Fund’s 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are duly elected and qualified. |
** | Term expires at the Fund’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are duly elected and qualified. |
*** | Term expires at the Fund’s 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are duly elected and qualified. |
For officers, includes time served in prior officer positions with the Fund. Each officer will hold office for an indefinite term until the date he or she resigns or retires or until his or her successor is elected and qualified.
3 | This column includes only directorships of companies required to report to the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, i.e., public companies, or other investment companies registered under the 1940 Act. |
4 | “Interested person” of the Fund as defined in the 1940 Act. Mr. Gabelli is considered an “interested person” because of his affiliation with Gabelli Funds, LLC, which acts as the Fund’s investment adviser. |
5 | Directors who are not interested persons are considered “Independent” Directors. |
6 | This Director is elected solely by and represents the stockholders of the preferred stock issued by this Fund. |
7 | Mr. Fahrenkopf’s daughter, Leslie F. Foley, serves as a director of other funds in the Fund Complex. |
8 | Mr. Zizza is an independent director of Gabelli International Ltd., which may be deemed to be controlled by Mario J. Gabelli and/or affiliates and in that event would be deemed to be under common control with the Fund’s Adviser. On September 9, 2015, Mr. Zizza entered into a settlement with the SEC to resolve an inquiry relating to an alleged violation regarding the making of false statements or omissions to the accountants of a company concerning a related party transaction. The company in question is not an affiliate of, nor has any connection to, the Fund. Under the terms of the settlement, Mr. Zizza, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings and allegation, paid $150,000 and agreed to cease and desist committing or causing any future violations of Rule13b2-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Board has discussed this matter and has determined that it does not disqualify Mr. Zizza from serving as an Independent Director. |
35
THE GABELLI EQUITY TRUST INC.
INCOME TAX INFORMATION (Unaudited)
December 31, 2019
Cash Dividends and Distributions
Payable Date | Record Date | Ordinary Investment Income (a) | Long Term Capital Gains | Return of Capital (b) | Total Amount Paid Per Share (c) | Dividend Reinvestment Price | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Common Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
03/22/19 | 03/15/19 | $0.01370 | $0.12300 | $0.01330 | $0.15000 | $5.80450 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
06/21/19 | 06/14/19 | 0.01370 | 0.12300 | 0.01330 | 0.15000 | 5.90000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
09/23/19 | 09/16/19 | 0.01370 | 0.12300 | 0.01330 | 0.15000 | 5.72850 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
12/20/19 | 12/13/19 | 0.01370 | 0.12300 | 0.01330 | 0.15000 | 5.88000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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$0.05480 | $0.49200 | $0.05320 | $0.60000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
5.875% Series D Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
03/26/19 | 03/19/19 | $0.03683 | $0.33036 | — | $0.36719 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
06/26/19 | 06/19/19 | 0.03683 | 0.33036 | — | 0.36719 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
09/26/19 | 09/19/19 | 0.03682 | 0.33036 | — | 0.36718 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
12/26/19 | 12/18/19 | 0.03682 | 0.33037 | — | 0.36719 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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$0.14730 | $1.32145 | — | $1.46875 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
5.000% Series G Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
03/26/19 | 03/19/19 | $0.03140 | $0.28110 | — | $0.31250 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
06/26/19 | 06/19/19 | 0.03140 | 0.28110 | — | 0.31250 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
09/26/19 | 09/19/19 | 0.03140 | 0.28110 | — | 0.31250 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
12/26/19 | 12/18/19 | 0.03140 | 0.28110 | — | 0.31250 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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$0.12560 | $1.12440 | — | $1.25000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
5.000% Series H Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
03/26/19 | 03/19/19 | $0.03140 | $0.28110 | — | $0.31250 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
06/26/19 | 06/19/19 | 0.03140 | 0.28110 | — | 0.31250 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
09/26/19 | 09/19/19 | 0.03140 | 0.28110 | — | 0.31250 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
12/26/19 | 12/18/19 | 0.03140 | 0.28110 | — | 0.31250 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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$0.12560 | $1.12440 | — | $1.25000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
5.450% Series J Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
03/26/19 | 03/19/19 | $0.03416 | $0.30646 | — | $0.34062 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
06/26/19 | 06/19/19 | 0.03416 | 0.30646 | — | 0.34062 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
09/26/19 | 09/19/19 | 0.03416 | 0.30646 | — | 0.34062 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
12/26/19 | 12/18/19 | 0.03417 | 0.30647 | — | 0.34064 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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$0.13665 | $1.22585 | — | $1.36250 |
A Form1099-DIV has been mailed to all shareholders of record which sets forth specific amounts to be included in the 2019 tax returns. Ordinary income distributions include net investment income and realized net short term capital gains, if any. Ordinary income is reported in box 1a of Form1099-DIV. Capital gain distributions are reported in box 2a of Form1099-DIV. The long term gain distributions for the year ended December 31, 2019 were $143,582,420.
Auction Rate Series C and E Cumulative Preferred Stock
Auction Rate Preferred Stocks pay dividends weekly based on the maximum rate. The distributions derived from long term capital gains for the Auction Rate Series C and Series E Cumulative Preferred Stock were $2,484,020 and $960,861, respectively.
Corporate Dividends Received Deduction, Qualified Dividend Income, and U.S. Government Securities Income
In 2019, the Fund paid to common, 5.875% Series D, 5.000% Series G, 5.000% Series H, and 5.450% Series J preferred shareholders ordinary income dividends totaling $0.05480, $0.14730, $0.12560, $0.12560, and $0.13665 per share, respectively. The Fund paid weekly distributions to auction rate Series C and Series E preferred shareholders at varying rates throughout the year, including an ordinary income dividend totaling $89.98 and $89.89 per share, respectively, in 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2019, 100% of the ordinary income dividend qualified for the dividend received deduction available to corporations, 100% of the ordinary income distribution was deemed qualified dividend income and is reported in box 1b on Form1099-DIV, 100% of the ordinary income distribution was qualified short term capital gain, and 1.69% of the ordinary income distribution was qualified interest income. The percentage of the ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund during 2019 derived from U.S. Government securities was 1.47%. Such income is exempt from state and local tax in all states. However, many states, including New York and California, allow a tax exemption for a portion of the income earned only if a mutual fund has invested at least 50% of its assets at the end of each quarter of the Fund’s fiscal year in U.S. Government securities. The Fund did not meet this strict requirement in 2019. The percentage of U.S. Government securities held as of December 31, 2019 was 3.46% of total investments.
36
THE GABELLI EQUITY TRUST INC.
INCOME TAX INFORMATION (Unaudited) (Continued)
December 31, 2019
Historical Distribution Summary
Investment Income (a) | Short Term Capital Gains (a) | Long Term Capital Gains | Return of Capital (b) | Total Distributions(c) | Adjustment to Cost Basis (d) | |||||||||||||||||||
Common Stock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | $0.05160 | $0.00320 | $0.49200 | $0.05320 | $0.60000 | $0.05320 | ||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 0.05980 | 0.00250 | 0.54180 | 0.03590 | 0.64000 | 0.03590 | ||||||||||||||||||
2017(e) | 0.03700 | — | 0.56850 | 0.00450 | 0.61000 | 0.00450 | ||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 0.06280 | 0.00960 | 0.52320 | 0.00440 | 0.60000 | 0.00440 | ||||||||||||||||||
2015 | 0.05210 | 0.01020 | 0.43270 | 0.14500 | 0.64000 | 0.14500 | ||||||||||||||||||
2014(f) | 0.04848 | 0.01772 | 0.47238 | 0.10143 | 0.64000 | 0.10143 | ||||||||||||||||||
2013 | 0.05000 | 0.06250 | 0.50750 | — | 0.62000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2012(g) | 0.05800 | 0.10800 | — | 0.39400 | 0.56000 | 0.39400 | ||||||||||||||||||
2011 | 0.01676 | 0.00430 | — | 0.54895 | 0.57000 | 0.54895 | ||||||||||||||||||
2010 | — | — | — | 0.51000 | 0.51000 | 0.51000 | ||||||||||||||||||
5.875% Series D Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | $0.13894 | $0.00836 | $1.32145 | — | $1.46875 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 0.14561 | 0.00583 | 1.31731 | — | 1.46875 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2017 | 0.09005 | — | 1.37870 | — | 1.46875 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 0.15523 | 0.02360 | 1.28992 | — | 1.46875 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2015 | 0.15444 | 0.03023 | 1.28409 | — | 1.46876 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 0.13222 | 0.04831 | 1.28822 | — | 1.46875 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2013 | 0.11822 | 0.14819 | 1.20234 | — | 1.46875 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2012 | 0.51428 | 0.95447 | — | — | 1.46875 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2011 | 1.16910 | 0.29965 | — | — | 1.46875 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2010 | 1.05723 | — | — | $0.41152 | 1.46875 | $0.41152 | ||||||||||||||||||
Series G Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | $0.11840 | $0.00720 | $1.12440 | — | $1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 0.12400 | 0.00480 | 1.12120 | — | 1.25000 | |||||||||||||||||||
2017 | 0.07680 | — | 1.17320 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 0.13200 | 0.02000 | 1.09800 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2015 | 0.13160 | 0.02560 | 1.09280 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 0.11240 | 0.04120 | 1.09640 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2013 | 0.11270 | 0.14110 | 1.14550 | — | 1.39930 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2012 | 0.21155 | 0.39262 | — | — | 0.60417 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
5.000% Series H Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | $0.11840 | $0.00720 | $1.12440 | — | $1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 0.12400 | 0.00480 | 1.12120 | — | 1.25000 | |||||||||||||||||||
2017 | 0.07680 | — | 1.17320 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 0.13200 | 0.02000 | 1.09800 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2015 | 0.13160 | 0.02560 | 1.09280 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 0.11240 | 0.04120 | 1.09640 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2013 | 0.10080 | 0.12600 | 1.02320 | — | 1.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2012 | 0.10700 | 0.19860 | �� | — | — | 0.30560 | — | |||||||||||||||||
5.450% Series J Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | $0.12889 | $0.00776 | $1.22585 | — | $1.36250 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 0.13507 | 0.00541 | 1.22202 | — | 1.36250 | |||||||||||||||||||
2017 | 0.08353 | — | 1.27897 | — | 1.36250 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 0.10640 | 0.01618 | 0.88416 | — | 1.00674 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
5.000% Series K Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
2019(h) | — | — | — | — | — | — |
37
THE GABELLI EQUITY TRUST INC.
INCOME TAX INFORMATION (Unaudited) (Continued)
December 31, 2019
Historical Distribution Summary (Continued)
Investment Income (a) | Short Term Capital Gains (a) | Long Term Capital Gains | Return of Capital (b) | Total Distributions(c) | Adjustment to Cost Basis (d) | |||||||||||||||||||
Auction Rate Series C Cumulative Preferred Stock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | $89.98036 | $5.41380 | $855.76584 | — | $951.16000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 81.98543 | 3.28450 | 741.73007 | — | 827.00000 | |||||||||||||||||||
2017 | 27.23682 | — | 417.02318 | — | 444.26000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 18.45541 | 2.80628 | 153.35831 | — | 174.62000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2015 | 4.58660 | 0.89764 | 38.13575 | — | 43.61999 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 2.81131 | 1.02727 | 27.39142 | — | 31.23000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2013 | 2.49523 | 3.12766 | 25.37712 | — | 31.00000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2012 | 13.04312 | 24.20688 | — | — | 37.25000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2011 | 29.61842 | 7.59158 | — | — | 37.21000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2010 | 47.84624 | — | — | $18.62376 | 66.47000 | $18.62376 | ||||||||||||||||||
Auction Rate Series E Cumulative Preferred Stock |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
2019 | $89.89238 | $5.40851 | $854.92911 | — | $950.23000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 80.13754 | 3.21047 | 725.01199 | — | 808.36000 | |||||||||||||||||||
2017 | 27.45447 | — | 420.35553 | — | 808.36000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 18.51566 | 2.81544 | 153.85890 | — | 175.19000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2015 | 4.84737 | 0.94868 | 40.30395 | — | 46.10000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 2.68709 | 0.98187 | 26.18104 | — | 29.85000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2013 | 2.56686 | 3.21745 | 26.10568 | — | 31.89000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2012 | 12.47587 | 23.15413 | — | — | 35.63000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2011 | 27.47723 | 7.04277 | — | — | 34.52000 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
2010 | 48.73162 | — | — | $18.96838 | 67.70000 | $18.96838 |
(a) | Taxable as ordinary income. |
(b) | Non-taxable. |
(c) | Total amounts may differ due to rounding. |
(d) | Decrease in cost basis. |
(e) | On November 6, 2017, the Fund also distributed Rights equivalent to $0.14 per common share based upon full subscription of all issued shares. |
(f) | On September 19, 2014, the Fund also distributed Rights equivalent to $0.12 per common share based upon full subscription of all issued shares. |
(g) | On June 29, 2012, the Fund also distributed Rights equivalent to $0.12 per common share based upon full subscription of all issued shares. |
(h) | Series K did not pay distribution in 2019. |
All designations are based on financial information available as of the date of this annual report and, accordingly, are subject to change. For each item, it is the intention of the Fund to designate the maximum amount permitted under the Internal Revenue Code and the regulations thereunder.
38
AUTOMATIC DIVIDEND REINVESTMENT
AND VOLUNTARY CASH PURCHASE PLANS
Under the Fund’s Automatic Dividend Reinvestment Plan and Voluntary Cash Purchase Plan (the “Plan”), a stockholder whose shares of common stock are registered in his or her own name will have all distributions reinvested automatically by Computershare Trust Company, N.A. (“Computershare”), which is an agent under the Plan, unless the stockholder elects to receive cash. Distributions with respect to shares registered in the name of a broker-dealer or other nominee (that is, in “street name”) will be reinvested by the broker or nominee in additional shares under the Plan, unless the service is not provided by the broker or nominee or the stockholder elects to receive distributions in cash. Investors who own shares of common stock registered in street name should consult their broker-dealers for details regarding reinvestment. All distributions to investors who do not participate in the Plan will be paid by check mailed directly to the record holder by Computershare as dividend-disbursing agent.
Enrollment in the Plan
It is the policy of the Fund to automatically reinvest dividends payable to common shareholders. As a “registered” stockholder, you automatically become a participant in the Fund’s Plan. The Plan authorizes the Fund to credit shares of common stock to participants upon an income dividend or a capital gains distribution regardless of whether the shares are trading at a discount or a premium to net asset value. All distributions to stockholders whose shares are registered in their own names will be automatically reinvested pursuant to the Plan in additional shares of the Fund. Plan participants may send their stock certificates to Computershare to be held in their dividend reinvestment account. Registered stockholders wishing to receive their distribution in cash may submit this request through the Internet, by telephone or in writing to:
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
c/o Computershare
P.O. Box 505000
Louisville, KY 40233-5000
Telephone:(800)336-6983
Website: www.computershare.com/investor
Stockholders requesting this cash election must include the stockholder’s name and address as they appear on the share certificate. Stockholders with additional questions regarding the Plan or requesting a copy of the terms of the Plan may contact Computershare at the website or telephone number above.
If your shares are held in the name of a broker, bank, or nominee, you should contact such institution. If such institution is not participating in the Plan, your account will be credited with a cash dividend. In order to participate in the Plan through such institution, it may be necessary for you to have your shares taken out of “street name” andre-registered in your own name. Once registered in your own name, your dividends will be automatically reinvested. Certain brokers participate in the Plan. Stockholders holding shares in “street name” at participating institutions will have dividends automatically reinvested. Stockholders wishing a cash dividend at such institution must contact their broker to make this change.
The number of shares of common stock distributed to participants in the Plan in lieu of cash dividends is determined in the following manner. Under the Plan, whenever the market price of the Fund’s common stock is equal to or exceeds net asset value at the time shares are valued for purposes of determining the number of shares equivalent to the cash dividends or capital gains distribution, participants are issued shares of common stock valued at the greater of (i) the net asset value as most recently determined or (ii) 95% of the then current market price of the Fund’s common stock. The valuation date is the dividend or distribution payment date or, if that date is not a NYSE trading day, the next trading day. If the net asset value of the common stock at the time of valuation exceeds the market price of the common stock, participants will receive shares from the Fund valued at market price. If the Fund should declare a dividend or capital gains distribution payable only in cash, Computershare will buy common stock in the open market, or on the NYSE or elsewhere, for the participants’ accounts, except that Computershare will endeavor to terminate purchases in the open market and cause the Fund to issue shares at net asset value if, following the commencement of such purchases, the market value of the common stock exceeds the then current net asset value.
The automatic reinvestment of dividends and capital gains distributions will not relieve participants of any income tax which may be payable on such distributions. A participant in the Plan will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as having received, on a dividend payment date, a dividend or distribution in an amount equal to the cash the participant could have received instead of shares.
Voluntary Cash Purchase Plan
The Voluntary Cash Purchase Plan is yet another vehicle for our stockholders to increase their investment in the Fund. In order to participate in the Voluntary Cash Purchase Plan, stockholders must have their shares registered in their own name.
Participants in the Voluntary Cash Purchase Plan have the option of making additional cash payments to Computershare for investments in the Fund’s shares at the then current market price. Stockholders may send an amount from $250 to $10,000. Computershare will use these funds to purchase shares in the open market on or about the 1st and 15th of each month. Computershare will charge each stockholder who participates $0.75, plus a per share fee (currently $0.02 per share). Per share fees include any applicable brokerage commissions Computershare is required to pay and fees for such purchases are expected to be less than the usual fees for such transactions. It is suggested that any voluntary cash payments be sent to Computershare, P.O. Box 6006, Carol Stream, IL 60197-6006 such that Computershare receives such payments approximately two business before the 1st and 15th of the month. Funds not received at least two business before the investment date shall be held for investment until the next purchase date. A payment may be withdrawn without charge if notice is received by Computershare at least two business days before such payment is to be invested.
39
AUTOMATIC DIVIDEND REINVESTMENT
AND VOLUNTARY CASH PURCHASE PLANS
(Continued)
Stockholders wishing to liquidate shares held at Computershare may do so through the Internet, in writing or by telephone to the above-mentioned website, address or telephone number. Include in your request your name, address, and account number. Computershare will sell such shares through a broker-dealer selected by Computershare within 5 business days of receipt of the request. The sale price will equal the weighted average price of all shares sold through the Plan on the day of the sale, less applicable fees. Participants should note that Computershare is unable to accept instructions to sell on a specific date or at a specific price. The cost to liquidate shares is $2.50 per transaction as well as the per share fee (currently $0.10 per share) Per share fees include any applicable brokerage commissions Computershare is required to pay and are expected to be less than the usual fees for such transactions.
For more information regarding the Automatic Dividend Reinvestment Plan and Voluntary Cash Purchase Plan, brochures are available by calling (914)921-5070 or by writing directly to the Fund.
The Fund reserves the right to amend or terminate the Plan as applied to any voluntary cash payments made and any dividend or distribution paid subsequent to written notice of the change sent to the members of the Plan at least 30 days before the record date for such dividend or distribution. The Plan also may be amended or terminated by Computershare on at least 30 days written notice to participants in the Plan.
40
THE GABELLI EQUITY TRUST INC.
AND YOUR PERSONAL PRIVACY
Who are we?
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. (the Fund) is aclosed-end management investment company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940. We are managed by Gabelli Funds, LLC, which is affiliated with GAMCO Investors, Inc., a publicly held company that has subsidiaries that provide investment advisory services for a variety of clients.
What kind ofnon-public information do we collect about you if you become a Fund shareholder?
When you purchase shares of the Fund on the New York Stock Exchange, you have the option of registering directly with our transfer agent in order, for example, to participate in our dividend reinvestment plan.
● | Information you give us on your application form.This could include your name, address, telephone number, social security number, bank account number, and other information. |
● | Information about your transactions with us.This would include information about the shares that you buy or sell; it may also include information about whether you sell or exercise rights that we have issued from time to time. If we hire someone else to provide services — like a transfer agent — we will also have information about the transactions that you conduct through them. |
What information do we disclose and to whom do we disclose it?
We do not disclose anynon-public personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone other than our affiliates, our service providers who need to know such information, and as otherwise permitted by law. If you want to find out what the law permits, you can read the privacy rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission. They are in volume 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 248. The Commission often posts information about its regulations on its website, www.sec.gov.
What do we do to protect your personal information?
We restrict access tonon-public personal information about you to the people who need to know that information in order to provide services to you or the Fund and to ensure that we are complying with the laws governing the securities business. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to keep your personal information confidential.
THE GABELLI EQUITY TRUST INC.
One Corporate Center
Rye, NY 10580-1422
Portfolio Management Team Biographies
Mario J. Gabelli, CFA,is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer - Value Portfolios of GAMCO Investors, Inc. that he founded in 1977, and Chief Investment Officer - Value Portfolios of Gabelli Funds, LLC and GAMCO Asset Management Inc. He is also Executive Chairman of Associated Capital Group, Inc. Mr. Gabelli is a summa cum laude graduate of Fordham University and holds an MBA degree from Columbia Business School and Honorary Doctorates from Fordham University and Roger Williams University. | ||
| ||
Christopher J. Marangijoined Gabelli in 2003 as a research analyst. Currently he is a Managing Director andCo-Chief Investment Officer for GAMCO Investors, Inc.’s Value team. In addition, he serves as a portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, LLC and manages several funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex. Mr. Marangi graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Political Economy from Williams College and holds an MBA degree with honors from Columbia Business School. | ||
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Kevin V. Dreyerjoined Gabelli in 2005 as a research analyst covering companies within the consumer sector. Currently he is a Managing Director andCo-Chief Investment Officer for GAMCO Investors, Inc.’s Value team. In addition, he serves as a portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, LLC and manages several funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex. Mr. Dreyer received a BSE from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA degree from Columbia Business School. |
Robert D. Leininger, CFA,joined GAMCO Investors, Inc. in 1993 as an equity analyst. Subsequently, he was a partner and portfolio manager at Rorer Asset Management before rejoining GAMCO in 2010 where he currently serves as a portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, LLC. Mr. Leininger is a magna cum laude graduate of Amherst College with a degree in Economics and holds an MBA degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. | ||
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Daniel M. Millerhas been the portfolio manager of the Gabelli Pet Parents’ Fund since inception of the Fund. He currently serves as a portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, LLC and is also a Managing Director of GAMCO Investors, Inc. Mr. Miller joined the Firm in 2002 and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in finance from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. | ||
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Jennie Tsaijoined Gabelli in 2001 as a research analyst responsible for the healthcare and medical products industries. At Gabelli, Ms. Tsai is focused on medical sectors, including dental, orthopedics, diagnostics, dermatology, and ophthalmology. She received a BS in Commerce at the University of Virginia and an MBA from Columbia Business School. |
The Net Asset Value per share appears in the Publicly Traded Funds column, under the heading “General Equity Funds,” in Monday’s The Wall Street Journal. It is also listed in Barron’s Mutual Funds/Closed End Funds section under the heading “General Equity Funds.”
The Net Asset Value per share may be obtained each day by calling (914)921-5070 or visiting www.gabelli.com.
The NASDAQ symbol for the Net Asset Value is “XGABX.”
Notice is hereby given in accordance with Section 23(c) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, that the Fund may, from time to time, purchase its common shares in the open market when the Fund’s shares are trading at a discount of 10% or more from the net asset value of the shares. The Fund may also, from time to time, purchase its preferred shares in the open market when the preferred shares are trading at a discount to the liquidation value.
THE GABELLI EQUITY TRUST INC. | ||
One Corporate Center | ||
Rye, NY 10580-1422
t 800-GABELLI (800-422-3554) f 914-921-5118 e info@gabelli.com | ||
GABELLI.COM
| ||
DIRECTORS
Mario J. Gabelli, CFA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, GAMCO Investors, Inc. Executive Chairman, Associated Capital Group, Inc.
James P. Conn Former Managing Director & Chief Investment Officer, Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd.
Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. Former President & Chief Executive Officer, American Gaming Association
Michael J. Ferrantino Chief Executive Officer, InterEx, Inc.
William F. Heitmann Former Senior Vice President of Finance, Verizon Communications, Inc.
Kuni Nakamura President, Advanced Polymer, Inc.
Salvatore J. Zizza Chairman, Zizza & Associates Corp. |
OFFICERS
Bruce N. Alpert President
John C. Ball Treasurer
Agnes Mullady Vice President
Andrea R. Mango Secretary & Vice President
Richard J. Walz Chief Compliance Officer
Molly A.F. Marion Vice President & Ombudsman
Carter W. Austin Vice President
David I. Schachter Vice President
INVESTMENT ADVISER
Gabelli Funds, LLC One Corporate Center Rye, New York 10580-1422
CUSTODIAN
The Bank of New York Mellon
COUNSEL
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
TRANSFER AGENT AND REGISTRAR
Computershare Trust Company, N.A. |
|
GAB Q4/2019 |
Item 2. Code of Ethics.
(a) | The registrant, as of the end of the period covered by this report, has adopted a code of ethics that applies to the registrant’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions, regardless of whether these individuals are employed by the registrant or a third party. |
(c) | There have been no amendments, during the period covered by this report, to a provision of the code of ethics that applies to the registrant’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions, regardless of whether these individuals are employed by the registrant or a third party, and that relates to any element of the code of ethics description. |
(d) | The registrant has not granted any waivers, including an implicit waiver, from a provision of the code of ethics that applies to the registrant’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions, regardless of whether these individuals are employed by the registrant or a third party, that relates to one or more of the items set forth in paragraph (b) of this item’s instructions. |
Item 3. Audit Committee Financial Expert.
As of the end of the period covered by the report, the registrant’s Board of Directors has determined that William F. Heitmann is qualified to serve as an audit committee financial expert serving on its audit committee and that he is “independent,” as defined by Item 3 of FormN-CSR.
Item 4. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
Audit Fees
(a) | The aggregate fees billed for each of the last two fiscal years for professional services rendered by the principal accountant for the audit of the registrant’s annual financial statements or services that are normally provided by the accountant in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements for those fiscal years are $51,621 for 2018 and $51,621 for 2019. |
Audit-Related Fees
(b) | The aggregate fees billed in each of the last two fiscal years for assurance and related services by the principal accountant that are reasonably related to the performance of the audit of the registrant’s financial statements and are not reported under paragraph (a) of this Item are $0 for 2018 and $0 for 2019. |
Tax Fees
(c) | The aggregate fees billed in each of the last two fiscal years for professional services rendered by the principal accountant for tax compliance, tax advice, and tax planning are $4,750 for 2018 and $4,950 for 2019. Tax fees represent tax compliance services provided in connection with the review of the Registrant’s tax returns. |
All Other Fees
(d) | The aggregate fees billed in each of the last two fiscal years for products and services provided by the principal accountant, other than the services reported in paragraphs (a) through (c) of this Item are $0 for 2018 and $25,000 for 2019. All other fees represent services provided in review of registration statement. |
(e)(1) | Disclose the audit committee’spre-approval policies and procedures described in paragraph (c)(7) of Rule2-01 of RegulationS-X. |
Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures. The Audit Committee (“Committee”) of the registrant is responsible forpre-approving (i) all audit and permissiblenon-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm to the registrant and (ii) all permissiblenon-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm to the Adviser, Gabelli Funds, LLC, and any affiliate of Gabelli Funds, LLC (“Gabelli”) that provides services to the registrant (a “Covered Services Provider”) if the independent registered public accounting firm’s engagement related directly to the operations and financial reporting of the registrant. The Committee may delegate its responsibility topre-approve any such audit and permissiblenon-audit services to the Chairperson of the Committee, and the Chairperson must report to the Committee, at its next regularly scheduled meeting after the Chairperson’spre-approval of such services, his or her decision(s). The Committee may also establish detailedpre-approval policies and procedures forpre-approval of such services in accordance with applicable laws, including the delegation of some or all of the Committee’spre-approval responsibilities to the other persons (other than Gabelli or the registrant’s officers).Pre-approval by the Committee of any permissiblenon-audit services is not required so long as: (i) the permissiblenon-audit services were not recognized by the registrant at the time of the engagement to benon-audit services; and (ii) such services are promptly brought to the attention of the Committee and approved by the Committee or Chairperson prior to the completion of the audit.
(e)(2) | The percentage of services described in each of paragraphs (b) through (d) of this Item that were approved by the audit committee pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule2-01 of RegulationS-X are as follows: |
(b) N/A
(c) 0%
(d) 0%
(f) | The percentage of hours expended on the principal accountant’s engagement to audit the registrant’s financial statements for the most recent fiscal year that were attributed to work performed by persons other than the principal accountant’s full-time, permanent employees was less than fifty percent. |
(g) | The aggregatenon-audit fees billed by the registrant’s accountant for services rendered to the registrant, and rendered to the registrant’s investment adviser (not including anysub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser), and any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the adviser that provides ongoing services to the registrant for each of the last two fiscal years of the registrant was $0 for 2018 and $25,000 for 2019. |
(h) | The registrant’s audit committee of the board of directors has considered whether the provision ofnon-audit services that were rendered to the registrant’s investment adviser (not including anysub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser), and any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the investment adviser that provides ongoing services to the registrant that were notpre-approved pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(ii) of Rule2-01 of RegulationS-X is compatible with maintaining the principal accountant’s independence. |
Item 5. Audit Committee of Listed Registrants.
(a) | The registrant has a separately designated audit committee consisting of the following members: Michael J. Ferrantino, William F. Heitmann, and Salvatore J. Zizza. |
(b) | Not applicable. |
Item 6. Investments.
(a) | Schedule of Investments in securities of unaffiliated issuers as of the close of the reporting period is included as part of the report to shareholders filed under Item 1 of this form. |
(b) | Not applicable due to no such divestments during the semi-annual period covered since the previous FormN-CSR filing. |
Item 7. | Disclosure of Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures forClosed-End Management Investment Companies. |
The Proxy Voting Policies are attached herewith.
SECTION HH
The Voting of Proxies on Behalf of Clients
(This section pertains to all affiliated SEC registered investment advisers)
Rule206(4)-6 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule30b1-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 require investment advisers to adopt written policies and procedures governing the voting of proxies on behalf of their clients.
These procedures will be used by GAMCO Asset Management Inc., Gabelli Funds, LLC, Gabelli & Company Investment Advisers, Inc., and Teton Advisors, Inc. (collectively, the “Advisers”) to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities held by their clients, including the procedures that the Advisers use when a vote presents a conflict between the interests of the shareholders of an investment company managed by one of the Advisers, on the one hand, and those of the Advisers; the principal underwriter; or any affiliated person of the investment company, the Advisers, or the principal underwriter. These procedures will not apply where the Advisers do not have voting discretion or where the Advisers have agreed to with a client to vote the client’s proxies in accordance with specific guidelines or procedures supplied by the client (to the extent permitted by ERISA).
I. Proxy Voting Committee
The Proxy Voting Committee was originally formed in April 1989 for the purpose of formulating guidelines and reviewing proxy statements within the parameters set by the substantive proxy voting guidelines originally published in 1988 and updated periodically, a copy of which are appended as Exhibit A. The Committee will include representatives of Research, Administration, Legal, and the Advisers. Additional or replacement members of the Committee will be nominated by the Chairman and voted upon by the entire Committee.
Meetings are held on an as needed basis to form views on the manner in which the Advisers should vote proxies on behalf of their clients.
In general, the Director of Proxy Voting Services, using the Proxy Guidelines, and the analysts of GAMCO Investors, Inc. (“GBL”), will determine how to vote on each issue. Fornon-controversial matters, the Director of Proxy Voting Services may vote the proxy if the vote is: (1) consistent with the recommendations of the issuer’s Board of Directors and not contrary to the Proxy Guidelines; (2) consistent with the recommendations of the issuer’s Board of Directors and is anon-controversial issue not covered by the Proxy Guidelines; or (3) the vote is contrary to the recommendations of the Board of Directors but is consistent with the Proxy Guidelines. In those instances, the Director of Proxy Voting Services or the Chairman of the Committee may sign and date the proxy statement indicating how each issue will be voted.
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All matters identified by the Chairman of the Committee, the Director of Proxy Voting Services or the Legal Department as controversial, taking into account the recommendations of the analysts of GBL, will be presented to the Proxy Voting Committee. If the Chairman of the Committee, the Director of Proxy Voting Services or the Legal Department has identified the matter as one that (1) is controversial; (2) would benefit from deliberation by the Proxy Voting Committee; or (3) may give rise to a conflict of interest between the Advisers and their clients, the Chairman of the Committee will initially determine what vote to recommend that the Advisers should cast and the matter will go before the Committee.
A. Conflicts of Interest.
The Advisers have implemented these proxy voting procedures in order to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing their proxy voting decisions. By following the Proxy Guidelines and the analysts of GBL, the Advisers are able to avoid, wherever possible, the influence of potential conflicts of interest. Nevertheless, circumstances may arise in which one or more of the Advisers are faced with a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest in connection with its vote. In general, a conflict of interest may arise when an Adviser knowingly does business with an issuer, and may appear to have a material conflict between its own interests and the interests of the shareholders of an investment company managed by one of the Advisers regarding how the proxy is to be voted. A conflict also may exist when an Adviser has actual knowledge of a material business arrangement between an issuer and an affiliate of the Adviser.
In practical terms, a conflict of interest may arise, for example, when a proxy is voted for a company that is a client of one of the Advisers, such as GAMCO Asset Management Inc. A conflict also may arise when a client of one of the Advisers has made a shareholder proposal in a proxy to be voted upon by one or more of the Advisers. The Director of Proxy Voting Services, together with the Legal Department, will scrutinize all proxies for these or other situations that may give rise to a conflict of interest with respect to the voting of proxies.
B. Operation of Proxy Voting Committee
For matters submitted to the Committee, each member of the Committee will receive, prior to the meeting, a copy of the proxy statement, a summary of any views provided by the Chief Investment Officer and any recommendations by GBL analysts. The Chief Investment Officer or the GBL analysts may be invited to present their viewpoints. If the Director of Proxy Voting Services or the Legal Department believe that the matter before the committee is one with respect to which a conflict of interest may exist between the Advisers and their clients, counsel may provide an
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opinion to the Committee concerning the conflict. If the matter is one in which the interests of the clients of one or more of the Advisers may diverge, counsel may so advise and the Committee may make different recommendations as to different clients. For any matters where the recommendation may trigger appraisal rights, counsel may provide an opinion concerning the likely risks and merits of such an appraisal action.
Each matter submitted to the Committee will be determined by the vote of a majority of the members present at the meeting. Should the vote concerning one or more recommendations be tied in a vote of the Committee, the Chairman of the Committee will cast the deciding vote. The Committee will notify the proxy department of its decisions and the proxies will be voted accordingly.
Although the Proxy Guidelines express the normal preferences for the voting of any shares not covered by a contrary investment guideline provided by the client, the Committee is not bound by the preferences set forth in the Proxy Guidelines and will review each matter on its own merits. The Advisers subscribe to Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (“ISS”) and Glass Lewis & Co., LLC (“Glass Lewis”), which supply current information on companies, matters being voted on, regulations, trends in proxy voting and information on corporate governance issues. The information provided by ISS and GL is for informational purposes only.
If the vote cast either by the analyst or as a result of the deliberations of the Proxy Voting Committee runs contrary to the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the issuer, the matter may be referred to legal counsel to determine whether an amendment to the most recently filed Schedule 13D is appropriate.
II. Social Issues and Other Client Guidelines
If a client has provided and the Advisers have accepted special instructions relating to the voting of proxies, they should be noted in the client’s account file and forwarded to the proxy department. This is the responsibility of the investment professional or sales assistant for the client. In accordance with Department of Labor guidelines, the Advisers’ policy is to vote on behalf of ERISA accounts in the best interest of the plan participants with regard to social issues that carry an economic impact. Where an account is not governed by ERISA, the Advisers will vote shares held on behalf of the client in a manner consistent with any individual investment/voting guidelines provided by the client. Otherwise the Advisers may abstain with respect to those shares.
Specific to the Gabelli ESG Fund, the Proxy Voting Committee will rely on the advice of the portfolio managers of the Gabelli ESG Fund to provide voting recommendations on the securities held in the portfolio.
III. Client Retention of Voting Rights
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If a client chooses to retain the right to vote proxies or if there is any change in voting authority, the following should be notified by the investment professional or sales assistant for the client.
- Operations
- Proxy Department
- Investment professional assigned to the account
In the event that the Board of Directors (or a Committee thereof) of one or more of the investment companies managed by one of the Advisers has retained direct voting control over any security, the Proxy Voting Department will provide each Board Member (or Committee member) with a copy of the proxy statement together with any other relevant information.
IV. Proxies of CertainNon-U.S. Issuers
Proxy voting in certain countries requires “share-blocking.” Shareholders wishing to vote their proxies must deposit their shares shortly before the date of the meeting with a designated depository. During the period in which the shares are held with a depository, shares that will be voted at the meeting cannot be sold until the meeting has taken place and the shares are returned to the clients’ custodian. Absent a compelling reason to the contrary, the Advisers believe that the benefit to the client of exercising the vote is outweighed by the cost of voting and therefore, the Advisers will not typically vote the securities ofnon-U.S. issuers that require share-blocking.
In addition, voting proxies of issuers innon-U.S. markets may also give rise to a number of administrative issues or give rise to circumstances under which voting would impose a cost (real or implied) on its client which may cause the Advisers to abstain from voting such proxies. For example, the Advisers may receive the notices for shareholder meetings without adequate time to consider the proposals in the proxy or after thecut-off date for voting. Other markets require the Advisers to provide local agents with power of attorney prior to implementing their respective voting instructions on the proxy. Other markets may require disclosure of certain ownership information in excess of what is required to vote in the U.S. market. Although it is the Advisers’ policies to vote the proxies for its clients for which they have proxy voting authority, in the case of issuers innon-U.S. markets, we vote client proxies on a best efforts basis.
V. Voting Records
The Proxy Voting Department will retain a record of matters voted upon by the Advisers for their clients. The Advisers will supply information on how they voted a client’s proxy upon request from the client.
The complete voting records for each registered investment company (the “Fund”) that is managed by the Advisers will be filed on FormN-PX for the twelve months ended June 30th, no later than August 31st of each year. A description of the
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Fund’s proxy voting policies, procedures, and how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by (i) calling800-GABELLI(800-422-3554); (ii) writing to Gabelli Funds, LLC at One Corporate Center, Rye, NY 10580-1422; or (iii) visiting the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
The Advisers’ proxy voting records will be retained in compliance with Rule204-2 under the Investment Advisers Act.
VI. Voting Procedures
1. Custodian banks, outside brokerage firms and clearing firms are responsible for forwarding proxies directly to the Advisers.
Proxies are received in one of two forms:
● | Shareholder Vote Instruction Forms (“VIFs”) - Issued by Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (“Broadridge”). Broadridge is an outside service contracted by the various institutions to issue proxy materials. |
● | Proxy cards which may be voted directly. |
2. Upon receipt of the proxy, the number of shares each form represents is logged into the proxy system, electronically or manually, according to security.
3. Upon receipt of instructions from the proxy committee, the votes are cast and recorded for each account.
Records have been maintained on the ProxyEdge system.
ProxyEdge records include:
Security Name and CUSIP Number
Date and Type of Meeting (Annual, Special, Contest)
Directors’ Recommendation (if any)
How the Adviser voted for the client on item
4. VIFs are kept alphabetically by security. Records for the current proxy season are located in the Proxy Voting Department office. In preparation for the upcoming season, files are transferred to an offsite storage facility during January/February.
5. If a proxy card or VIF is received too late to be voted in the conventional matter, every attempt is made to vote including:
● | When a solicitor has been retained, the solicitor is called. At the solicitor’s direction, the proxy is faxed or sent electronically. |
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● | In some circumstances VIFs can be faxed or sent electronically to Broadridge up until the time of the meeting. |
6. In the case of a proxy contest, records are maintained for each opposing entity.
7. Voting in Person
a) At times it may be necessary to vote the shares in person. In this case, a “legal proxy” is obtained in the following manner:
● | Banks and brokerage firms using the services at Broadridge: |
Broadridge is notified that we wish to vote in person. Broadridge issues individual legal proxies and sends them back via email or overnight (or the Adviser can pay messenger charges). A lead-time of at least two weeks prior to the meeting is needed to do this. Alternatively, the procedures detailed below for banks not using Broadridge may be implemented.
● | Banks and brokerage firms issuing proxies directly: |
The bank is called and/or faxed and a legal proxy is requested.
All legal proxies should appoint:
“Representative of [Adviser name] with full power of substitution.”
b) The legal proxies are given to the person attending the meeting along with the limited power of attorney.
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Appendix A
Proxy Guidelines
PROXY VOTING GUIDELINES
General Policy Statement
It is the policy of GAMCO Investors, Inc, and its affiliated advisers (collectively “the Advisers”) to vote in the best economic interests of our clients. As we state in our Magna Carta of Shareholders Rights, established in May 1988, we are neitherfor noragainst management. We are for shareholders.
At our first proxy committee meeting in 1989, it was decided that each proxy statement should be evaluated on its own merits within the framework first established by our Magna Carta of Shareholders Rights. The attached guidelines serve to enhance that broad framework.
We do not consider any issue routine. We take into consideration all of our research on the company, its directors, and their short and long-term goals for the company. In cases where issues that we generally do not approve of are combined with other issues, the negative aspects of the issues will be factored into the evaluation of the overall proposals but will not necessitate a vote in opposition to the overall proposals.
Board of Directors
We do not consider the election of the Board of Directors a routine issue. Each slate of directors is evaluated on acase-by-case basis.
Factors taken into consideration include:
● | Historical responsiveness to shareholders |
This may include such areas as:
-Paying greenmail
-Failure to adopt shareholder resolutions receiving a majority of shareholder votes
● | Qualifications |
● | Nominating committee in place |
● | Number of outside directors on the board |
● | Attendance at meetings |
● | Overall performance |
Selection of Auditors
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In general, we support the Board of Directors’ recommendation for auditors.
Blank Check Preferred Stock
We oppose the issuance of blank check preferred stock.
Blank check preferred stock allows the company to issue stock and establish dividends, voting rights, etc. without further shareholder approval.
Classified Board
A classified board is one where the directors are divided into classes with overlapping terms. A different class is elected at each annual meeting.
While a classified board promotes continuity of directors facilitating long range planning, we feel directors should be accountable to shareholders on an annual basis. We will look at this proposal on acase-by-case basis taking into consideration the board’s historical responsiveness to the rights of shareholders.
Where a classified board is in place we will generally not support attempts to change to an annually elected board.
When an annually elected board is in place, we generally will not support attempts to classify the board.
Increase Authorized Common Stock
The request to increase the amount of outstanding shares is considered on acase-by-case basis.
Factors taken into consideration include:
● | Future use of additional shares |
-Stock split
-Stock option or other executive compensation plan
-Finance growth of company/strengthen balance sheet
-Aid in restructuring
-Improve credit rating
-Implement a poison pill or other takeover defense
● | Amount of stock currently authorized but not yet issued or reserved for stock option plans |
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● | Amount of additional stock to be authorized and its dilutive effect |
We will support this proposal if a detailed and verifiable plan for the use of the additional shares is contained in the proxy statement.
Confidential Ballot
We support the idea that a shareholder’s identity and vote should be treated with confidentiality.
However, we look at this issue on acase-by-case basis.
In order to promote confidentiality in the voting process, we endorse the use of independent Inspectors of Election.
Cumulative Voting
In general, we support cumulative voting.
Cumulative voting is a process by which a shareholder may multiply the number of directors being elected by the number of shares held on record date and cast the total number for one candidate or allocate the voting among two or more candidates.
Where cumulative voting is in place, we will vote against any proposal to rescind this shareholder right.
Cumulative voting may result in a minority block of stock gaining representation on the board. When a proposal is made to institute cumulative voting, the proposal will be reviewed on acase-by-case basis. While we feel that each board member should represent all shareholders, cumulative voting provides minority shareholders an opportunity to have their views represented.
Director Liability and Indemnification
We support efforts to attract the best possible directors by limiting the liability and increasing the indemnification of directors, except in the case of insider dealing.
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Equal Access to the Proxy
The SEC’s rules provide for shareholder resolutions. However, the resolutions are limited in scope and there is a 500 word limit on proponents’ written arguments. Management has no such limitations. While we support equal access to the proxy, we would look at such variables as length of time required to respond, percentage of ownership, etc.
Fair Price Provisions
Charter provisions requiring a bidder to pay all shareholders a fair price are intended to preventtwo-tier tender offers that may be abusive. Typically, these provisions do not apply to board-approved transactions.
We support fair price provisions because we feel all shareholders should be entitled to receive the same benefits.
Reviewed on acase-by-case basis.
Golden Parachutes
Golden parachutes are severance payments to top executives who are terminated or demoted after a takeover.
We support any proposal that would assure management of its own welfare so that they may continue to make decisions in the best interest of the company and shareholders even if the decision results in them losing their job. We do not, however, support excessive golden parachutes. Therefore, each proposal will be decided on acase-by- case basis.
Anti-Greenmail Proposals
We do not support greenmail. An offer extended to one shareholder should be extended to all shareholders equally across the board.
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Limit Shareholders’ Rights to Call Special Meetings
We support the right of shareholders to call a special meeting.
Reviewed on acase-by-case basis.
Consideration of Nonfinancial Effects of a Merger
This proposal releases the directors from only looking at the financial effects of a merger and allows them the opportunity to consider the merger’s effects on employees, the community, and consumers.
As a fiduciary, we are obligated to vote in the best economic interests of our clients. In general, this proposal does not allow us to do that. Therefore, we generally cannot support this proposal.
Reviewed on acase-by-case basis.
Mergers, Buyouts, Spin-Offs, Restructurings
Each of the above is considered on acase-by-case basis. According to the Department of Labor, we are not required to vote for a proposal simply because the offering price is at a premium to the current market price. We may take into consideration the long term interests of the shareholders.
Military Issues
Shareholder proposals regarding military production must be evaluated on a purely economic set of criteria for our ERISA clients. As such, decisions will be made on acase-by-case basis.
In voting on this proposal for ournon-ERISA clients, we will vote according to the client’s direction when applicable. Where no direction has been given, we will vote in the best economic interests of our clients. It is not our duty to impose our social judgment on others.
Northern Ireland
Shareholder proposals requesting the signing of the MacBride principles for the purpose of countering the discrimination of Catholics in hiring practices must be evaluated on a purely economic set of criteria for our ERISA clients. As such, decisions will be made on acase-by-case basis.
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In voting on this proposal for ournon-ERISA clients, we will vote according to client direction when applicable. Where no direction has been given, we will vote in the best economic interests of our clients. It is not our duty to impose our social judgment on others.
Opt Out of State Anti-Takeover Law
This shareholder proposal requests that a company opt out of the coverage of the state’s takeover statutes. Example: Delaware law requires that a buyer must acquire at least 85% of the company’s stock before the buyer can exercise control unless the board approves.
We consider this on acase-by-case basis. Our decision will be based on the following:
● | State of Incorporation |
● | Management history of responsiveness to shareholders |
● | Other mitigating factors |
Poison Pill
In general, we do not endorse poison pills.
In certain cases where management has a history of being responsive to the needs of shareholders and the stock is very liquid, we will reconsider this position.
Reincorporation
Generally, we support reincorporation for well-defined business reasons. We oppose reincorporation if proposed solely for the purpose of reincorporating in a state with more stringent anti-takeover statutes that may negatively impact the value of the stock.
Stock Incentive Plans
Director and Employee Stock incentive plans are an excellent way to attract, hold and motivate directors and employees. However, each incentive plan must be evaluated on its own merits, taking into consideration the following:
● | Dilution of voting power or earnings per share by more than 10%. |
● | Kind of stock to be awarded, to whom, when and how much. |
● | Method of payment. |
● | Amount of stock already authorized but not yet issued under existing stock plans. |
● | The successful steps taken by management to maximize shareholder value. |
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Supermajority Vote Requirements
Supermajority vote requirements in a company’s charter or bylaws require a level of voting approval in excess of a simple majority of the outstanding shares. In general, we oppose supermajority-voting requirements. Supermajority requirements often exceed the average level of shareholder participation. We support proposals’ approvals by a simple majority of the shares voting.
Reviewed on acase-by-case basis.
Limit Shareholders Right to Act by Written Consent
Written consent allows shareholders to initiate and carry on a shareholder action without having to wait until the next annual meeting or to call a special meeting. It permits action to be taken by the written consent of the same percentage of the shares that would be required to effect proposed action at a shareholder meeting.
Reviewed on acase-by-case basis.
“Say-on-Pay” /“Say-When-on-Pay” /“Say-on-Golden-Parachutes”
Required under the Dodd-Frank Act; these proposals arenon-binding advisory votes on executive compensation. We will generally vote with the Board of Directors’ recommendation(s) on advisory votes on executive compensation(“Say-on-Pay”), advisory votes on the frequency of voting on executive compensation(“Say-When-on-Pay”) and advisory votes relating to extraordinary transaction executive compensation(“Say-on-Golden-Parachutes”). In those instances when we believe that it is in our clients’ best interest, we may abstain or vote against executive compensation and/or the frequency of votes on executive compensation and/or extraordinary transaction executive compensation advisory votes.
Proxy Access
Proxy access is a tool used to attempt to promote board accountability by requiring that a company’s proxy materials contain not only the names of management nominees, but also any candidates nominated by long-term shareholders holding at least a certain stake in the company. We will review proposals regarding proxy access on acase-by-case basis taking into account the provisions of the proposal, the company’s current governance structure, the successful steps taken by management to maximize shareholder value, as well as other applicable factors.
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Item 8. Portfolio Managers ofClosed-End Management Investment Companies.
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Mario J. Gabelli, CFA, is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer – Value Portfolios of GAMCO Investors, Inc. that he founded in 1977, and Chief Investment Officer – Value Portfolios of Gabelli Funds, LLC and GAMCO Asset Management Inc. He is also Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Associated Capital Group, Inc. Mr. Gabelli is a summa cum laude graduate of Fordham University and holds an MBA degree from Columbia Business School, and Honorary Doctorates from Fordham University and Roger Williams University.
Kevin V. Dreyer joined Gabelli in 2005 as a research analyst covering companies within the consumer sector. He currently serves asCo-Chief Investment Officer of GAMCO Investors, Inc.’s Value team and a portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, LLC. He manages several funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex. Mr. Dreyer received a BSE from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Robert D. Leininger, CFA, joined GAMCO Investors, Inc. in 1993 as an equity analyst. Subsequently, he was a partner and portfolio manager at Rorer Asset Management before rejoining GAMCO in 2010 where he currently serves as a portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, LLC. Mr. Leininger is a magna cum laude graduate of Amherst College with a degree in Economics and holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Christopher J. Marangi joined Gabelli in 2003 as a research analyst. He currently serves asCo-Chief Investment Officer of GAMCO Investors, Inc.’s Value team and a portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, LLC. He manages several funds within the Gabelli/GAMCO Fund Complex. Mr. Marangi graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Political Economy from Williams College and holds an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School.
Daniel M. Miller currently serves as a portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, LLC. He is also a Managing Director of GAMCO Investors, Inc. Mr. Miller graduated magna cum laude with a degree in finance from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
Jennie Tsai joined Gabelli in 2001 as a research analyst responsible for the healthcare and medical products industries. At Gabelli, Ms. Tsai is focused on medical sectors, including dental, orthopedics, diagnostics, dermatology, and ophthalmology. She received a BS in Commerce at the University of Virginia and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
MANAGEMENT OF OTHER ACCOUNTS
Information provided as of December 31, 2019
The table below shows the number of other accounts managed by the portfolio manager and the total assets in each of the following categories: registered investment companies, other paid investment vehicles and other accounts. For each category, the table also shows the number of accounts and the total assets in the accounts with respect to which the advisory fee is based on account performance.
Name of Portfolio Manager | Type of Accounts | Total No. of | Total Assets | No. of Accounts where Advisory Fee is Based on Performance | Total Assets in Accounts where Advisory Fee is Based on Performance | |||||
Mario J. Gabelli, CFA | Registered Investment Companies:
| 24 | $17.8 billion | 4 | $3.6 billion | |||||
Other Pooled Investment Vehicles:
| 11 | $1.1 billion | 8 | $904.3 million | ||||||
Other Accounts:
| 985 | $8.1 billion | 1 | $238.5 million | ||||||
Kevin V. Dreyer | Registered Investment Companies:
| 5 | $5.1 billion | 1 | $2.7 billion | |||||
Other Pooled Investment Vehicles:
| 1 | $56.3 million | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Other Accounts:
| 295 | $1.8 billion | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Christopher J. Marangi | Registered Investment Companies:
| 7 | $5.8 billion | 2 | $3.0 billion |
Other Pooled Investment Vehicles:
| 1 | $56.3 million | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Other Accounts:
| 301 | $1.6 billion | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Daniel M. Miller | Registered Investment Companies:
| 2 | $49.9 million | 0 | $0 | |||||
Other Pooled Investment Vehicles:
| 0 | $0 | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Other Accounts:
| 17 | $53.4 million | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Robert D. Leininger, CFA | Registered Investment Companies:
| 3 | $2.7 billion | 1 | $2.7 billion | |||||
Other Pooled Investment Vehicles:
| 0 | $0 | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Other Accounts:
| 179 | $316.4 million | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Jennie Tsai | Registered Investment Companies:
| 0 | $0 | 0 | $0 | |||||
Other Pooled Investment Vehicles:
| 0 | $0 | 0 | $0 | ||||||
Other Accounts:
| 6 | $2.9 million | 0 | $0 |
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
As reflected above, the Portfolio Managers manage accounts in addition to the Trust. Actual or apparent conflicts of interest may arise when a Portfolio Manager also hasday-to-day management responsibilities with respect to one or more other accounts. These potential conflicts include:
ALLOCATION OF LIMITED TIME AND ATTENTION. Because the portfolio managers manage many accounts, they may not be able to formulate as complete a strategy or identify equally attractive investment opportunities for each of those accounts as might be the case if they were to devote all of their attention to the management of only a few accounts.
ALLOCATION OF LIMITED INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES. If the portfolio managers identify an investment opportunity that may be suitable for multiple accounts, the Fund may not be able to take full advantage of that opportunity because the opportunity may be allocated among all or many of these accounts or other accounts managed primarily by other portfolio managers of the Adviser, and their affiliates.
SELECTION OF BROKER/DEALERS. Because of Mr. Gabelli’s indirect majority ownership interest in G.research, LLC, he may have an incentive to use G.research to execute portfolio transactions for a Fund.
PURSUIT OF DIFFERING STRATEGIES. At times, the portfolio managers may determine that an investment opportunity may be appropriate for only some of the accounts for which they exercises investment responsibility, or may decide that certain of these accounts should take differing positions with respect to a particular security. In these cases, the portfolio managers may execute differing or opposite transactions for one or more accounts which may affect the market price of the security or the execution of the transaction, or both, to the detriment of one or more of their accounts.
VARIATION IN COMPENSATION. A conflict of interest may arise where the financial or other benefits available to the portfolio manager differ among the accounts that they manage. If the structure of the Adviser’s management fee or the portfolio manager’s compensation differs among accounts (such as where certain accounts pay higher management fees or performance-based management fees), the portfolio managers may be motivated to favor certain accounts over others. The portfolio managers also may be motivated to favor accounts in which they have an investment interest, or in which the Adviser, or its affiliates have investment interests. Similarly, the desire to maintain assets under management or to enhance a Portfolio Manager’s performance record or to derive other rewards, financial or otherwise, could influence the Portfolio Manager in affording preferential treatment to those accounts that could most significantly benefit the Portfolio Manager. For example, as reflected above, if the Portfolio Manager manages accounts which have performance fee arrangements, certain portions of his/her compensation will depend on the achievement of performance milestones on those accounts. The Portfolio Manager could be incented to afford preferential treatment to those accounts and thereby be subject to a potential conflict of interest.
The Adviser and the Funds have adopted compliance policies and procedures that are designed to address the various conflicts of interest that may arise for the Adviser and their staff members. However, there is no guarantee that such policies and procedures will be able to detect and prevent every situation in which an actual or potential conflict may arise.
COMPENSATION STRUCTURE FOR MARIO J. GABELLI
Mr. Gabelli receives incentive-based variable compensation based on a percentage of net revenues received by the Adviser for managing the Fund. Net revenues are determined by deducting from gross investment management fees the firm’s expenses (other than Mr. Gabelli’s compensation) allocable to this Fund. Fourclosed-end registered investment companies (including this Fund) managed by Mr. Gabelli have arrangements whereby the Adviser will only receive its investment advisory fee attributable to the liquidation value of outstanding preferred stock (and Mr. Gabelli would only receive his percentage of such advisory fee) if certain performance levels are met. Additionally, he receives similar incentive based variable compensation for managing other accounts within the firm and its affiliates. This method of compensation is based on the premise that superior long-term performance in managing a portfolio should be rewarded with higher compensation as a result of growth of assets through appreciation and net investment activity. The level of compensation is not determined with specific reference to the performance of any account against any specific benchmark. One of the otherclosed-end registered investment companies managed by Mr. Gabelli has a performance (fulcrum) fee arrangement for which his compensation is adjusted up or down based on the performance of the investment company relative to an index. Mr. Gabelli manages other accounts with performance fees. Compensation for managing these accounts has two components. One component is based on a percentage of net revenues to the investment adviser for managing the account. The second component is based on absolute performance of the account, with respect to which a percentage of such performance fee is paid to Mr. Gabelli. As an executive officer of the Adviser’s parent company, GBL, Mr. Gabelli also receives ten percent of the net operating profits of the parent company. He receives no base salary, no annual bonus, and no stock options. Mr. Gabelli may also enter into and has entered into agreements to defer or waive his compensation.
COMPENSATION STRUCTURE FOR PORTFOLIO MANAGERS OF THE ADVISER OTHER THAN MARIO GABELLI
The compensation of the Portfolio Managers for the Fund is structure to enable the Adviser to attract and retain highly qualified professionals in a competitive environment. The Portfolio Managers receive a compensation package that includes a minimum draw or base salary, equity-based incentive compensation via awards of restricted stock, and incentive-based variable compensation based on a percentage of net revenue received by the Adviser for managing a Fund to the extent that the amount exceeds a minimum level of compensation. Net revenues are determined by deducting from gross investment management fees certain of the firm’s expenses (other than the respective Portfolio Manager’s compensation) allocable to the respective Fund (the incentive-based variable compensation for managing other accounts is also based on a percentage of net revenues to the investment adviser for managing the account). This method of compensation is based on the premise that superior long-term performance in managing a portfolio should be rewarded with higher compensation as a result of growth of assets through appreciation and net investment activity. The level of equity-based incentive and incentive-based variable compensation is based on an evaluation by the Adviser’s parent, GBL, of quantitative and qualitative performance evaluation criteria. This evaluation takes into account, in a broad sense, the performance of the accounts managed by the Portfolio Manager, but the level of compensation is not determined with specific reference to the performance of any account against any specific benchmark. Generally, greater consideration is given to the performance of larger accounts and to longer term performance over smaller accounts and short-term performance.
OWNERSHIP OF SHARES IN THE FUND
Mario J. Gabelli, Kevin V. Dreyer, Christopher J. Marangi, Daniel M. Miller, Robert D. Leininger, and Jennie Tsai each owned over $1 million,$10,001-$50,000,$10,001-$50,000, $0, $0, and $0, respectively, of shares of the Fund as of December 31, 2019.
(b) | Not applicable. |
Item 9. | Purchases of Equity Securities byClosed-End Management Investment Company and Affiliated Purchasers. |
REGISTRANT PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Period | (a) Total Number of Shares (or Units) Purchased) | (b) Average Price Paid per Share (or Unit) | (c) Total Number of Shares (or Units) Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | (d) Maximum Number (or Approximate Dollar Value) of Shares (or Units) that May Yet be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs | ||||
Month #1 07/01/2019 through 07/31/2019
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – 255,195,756
Preferred Series D – 2,363,860
Preferred Series G – 2,779,796
Preferred Series H – 4,172,873
Preferred Series J – 3,200,000
| ||||
Month #2 08/01/2019 through 08/31/2019
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – 255,195,756
Preferred Series D – 2,363,860
Preferred Series G – 2,779,796
Preferred Series H – 4,172,873
Preferred Series J – 3,200,000
| ||||
Month #3 09/01/2019 through 09/30/2019
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – 256,142,925
Preferred Series D – 2,363,860
Preferred Series G – 2,779,796
Preferred Series H – 4,172,873
Preferred Series J – 3,200,000
|
Month #4 10/01/2019 through 10/31/2019
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – 256,142,925
Preferred Series D – 2,363,860
Preferred Series G – 2,779,796
Preferred Series H – 4,172,873
Preferred Series J – 3,200,000
| ||||
Month #5 11/01/2019 through 11/30/2019
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
| Common – 256,142,925
Preferred Series D – 2,363,860
Preferred Series G – 2,779,796
Preferred Series H – 4,172,873
Preferred Series J – 3,200,000
| ||||
Month #6 12/01/2019 through 12/31/2019
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
Preferred Series K – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
Preferred Series K – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A
Preferred Series K – N/A
| Common – 257,072,039
Preferred Series D – 0
Preferred Series G – 2,779,796
Preferred Series H – 4,172,873
Preferred Series J – 3,200,000
Preferred Series K – 4,000,000
| ||||
Total
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A Preferred Series K – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A Preferred Series K – N/A
| Common – N/A
Preferred Series D – N/A
Preferred Series G – N/A
Preferred Series H – N/A
Preferred Series J – N/A Preferred Series K – N/A
| N/A
|
Footnote columns (c) and (d) of the table, by disclosing the following information in the aggregate for all plans or programs publicly announced:
a. | The date each plan or program was announced – The notice of the potential repurchase of common and preferred shares occurs semiannually in the Fund’s shareholder reports in accordance with Section 23(c) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. |
b. | The dollar amount (or share or unit amount) approved – Any or all common shares outstanding may be repurchased when the Fund’s common shares are trading at a discount of 10% or more from the net asset value of the shares. Any or all preferred Series G, Series H, Series J, and Series K outstanding may be repurchased when these preferred shares are trading at a discount to their liquidation values. |
c. | The expiration date (if any) of each plan or program – The Fund’s repurchase plans are ongoing. |
d. | Each plan or program that has expired during the period covered by the table – The Fund’s repurchase plans are ongoing. |
e. | Each plan or program the registrant has determined to terminate prior to expiration, or under which the registrant does not intend to make further purchases. – The Fund’s repurchase plans are ongoing. |
Item 10. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.
There have been no material changes to the procedures by which the shareholders may recommend nominees to the registrant’s Board of Directors, where those changes were implemented after the registrant last provided disclosure in response to the requirements of Item 407(c)(2)(iv) of Regulation S-K (17 CFR 229.407) (as required by Item 22(b)(15) of Schedule 14A (17 CFR240.14a-101)), or this Item.
Item 11. Controls and Procedures.
(a) | The registrant’s principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, have concluded that the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined inRule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) (17 CFR270.30a-3(c))) are effective, as of a date within 90 days of the filing date of the report that includes the disclosure required by this paragraph, based on their evaluation of these controls and procedures required by Rule30a-3(b) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR270.30a-3(b)) and Rules13a-15(b) or15d-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (17 CFR240.13a-15(b) or240.15d-15(b)). |
(b) | There were no changes in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined inRule 30a-3(d) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR270.30a-3(d))) that occurred during the period covered by this report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting. |
Item 12. Disclosure of Securities Lending Activities forClosed-End Management Investment Companies.
(a) | If the registrant is aclosed-end management investment company, provide the following dollar amounts of income and fees/compensation related to the securities lending activities of the registrant during its most recent fiscal year: |
(1) Gross income from securities lending activities; $0
(2) All fees and/or compensation for each of the following securities lending activities and related services: any share of revenue generated by the securities lending program paid to the securities lending agent(s) (“revenue split”); fees paid for cash collateral management services (including fees deducted from a pooled cash collateral reinvestment vehicle) that are not included in the revenue split; administrative fees that are not included in the revenue split; fees for indemnification that are not included in the revenue split; rebates paid to borrowers; and any other fees relating to the securities lending program that are not included in the revenue split, including a description of those other fees; $0
(3) The aggregate fees/compensation disclosed pursuant to paragraph (2); $0 and
(4) Net income from securities lending activities (i.e., the dollar amount in paragraph (1) minus the dollar amount in paragraph (3)). $0
(b) | If the registrant is aclosed-end management investment company, describe the services provided to the registrant by the securities lending agent in the registrant’s most recent fiscal year. N/A |
Item 13. Exhibits.
(a)(1) | Code of ethics, or any amendment thereto, that is the subject of disclosure required by Item 2 is attached hereto. | |||
(a)(2) | Certifications pursuant to Rule30a-2(a) under the 1940 Act and Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are attached hereto. | |||
(a)(3) | Not applicable. | |||
(a)(4) | Not applicable. | |||
(b) | Certifications pursuant to Rule30a-2(b) under the 1940 Act and Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are attached hereto. |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
(Registrant) The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
By (Signature and Title)* /s/ Bruce N. Alpert
Bruce N. Alpert, Principal Executive Officer
Date March 6, 2020
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
By (Signature and Title)* /s/ Bruce N. Alpert
Bruce N. Alpert, Principal Executive Officer
Date March 6, 2020
By (Signature and Title)* /s/ John C. Ball
John C. Ball, Principal Financial Officer and Treasurer
Date March 6, 2020
* Print the name and title of each signing officer under his or her signature.