Trade Executed

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We had a very easy ride to Boston (thankfully).We will behere for a couple of days and then New York City for a couple of days.  I have a couple of work related things to doalong the way, we are going to a couple of Red Sox games, seeing family, doinga couple of fire department related things and seeing a couple of friends.
Yesterday we executed a trade for most large accounts andRRGR in buying Genuine Parts (GPC). Depending on the client we are targeting a2-3% weighting. The idea was pretty simple, we increased equity exposure, addedsome yield and this is a name I would expect we would be able to hold onto inthe face of a downturn if the end of the cycle comes in 2013 or 2014 as I thinkwill be the case.
The company’s biggest division sells auto parts, youprobably know the name NAPA Auto Parts, there a couple of other divisionsincluding industrial components and oddly an office supply division that,although only a sliver of the business, I wouldn’t mind seeing them sell. There is very little debt and the company has been raisingits dividend since the pilgrims landed (slight exaggeration).
If my long running theme of generally reduced priceappreciation in domestic indexes holds up then increasing the yield of theportfolio becomes important. As a note I don’t believe in owning dividendpayers exclusively as that would exclude certain market segments and make forweaker diversification IMO.
One other thing to circle back to is the comment on index priceappreciation or lack thereof. Net net there has been very little progress inthe indexes for many years. The SPX is currently at a level first hit in December 1999.In the last few years there have been some great trading opportunities butprogress for investors has been tough to come by although with some luck incountry selection (and avoidance) and domestic sector avoidance portfolios canhave performed decently in the last ten years.

The pictures will get better, Joellyn got some great ones with the "good" camera from the room while I was out getting our morning mochas.