Windward Partners offers clients multiple investment options from dividend-oriented equity portfolios to fixed income portfolios and a blend of the two.
- Dividend Portfolios
- Fixed Income Portfolios
- The Windward Portfolio
Dividend Portfolios
- Focus on stocks with above-average dividend yields
- Windward's dividend portfolios own between 30 - 40 stocks at any time. The "turnover" in the portfolios is about 25% on an annual basis, which means that on average we add or delete between 8 - 10 stocks per year.
- The core strategy is to buy stocks that have dividend yields greater than that of the stock market yield, currently about 1.8%. Over time, the market's dividend yield has made up about 65% of the total return. Owning stocks that pay dividends ensures that the owner receives some return even during difficult market times.
- Also, a recent study has shown that a major reason for owning higher yielding stocks is that these companies tend to have higher subsequent real earnings growth when compared to companies that pay out little in the form of dividends. Since we also believe that higher earnings are the basis of good long-term stock movement, these companies have an added long-term appeal.
- Higher payout of earnings in the form of dividends indicate that a company's managements confident about the stability and growth of expected earnings. Also, company managements tend to be more efficient with their company's cash resources.
Fixed Income Portfolios
- Windward's fixed income portfolio holdings depend on whether the objective is tax-free or taxable income. These portfolios hold some of the following securities:
- U.S. Government Bonds -- Including government agency securities.
- Municipal Bonds -- Tax-free securities issued by state and local governments
- Taxable Municipal Bonds -- These are attractive at times relative to other taxable bonds and are issued to finance municipal projects that do not fall under "tax-free" guidelines.
- Exchange Traded Funds (EFT) -- Trade able closed-end bond funds that enable portfolios to invest in specific sectors of the bond market and to take advantage of market-created under valuations.
- High-Yield Bonds -- Higher risk bonds that trade much like stocks and are appropriate only for certain clients.
The Windward Portfolio
- The Windward Portfolio is the firm's flagship investment portfolio.
- This is a balanced portfolio that owns both equity and fixed income securities.
- - The equity sector is made up of the Dividend Portfolio securities.
- - The fixed income sector holds securities from the Fixed Income Portfolio.
- In addition, the Windward Portfolio holds securities that are "special situations" that fall outside the typical holdings of either of the other two portfolios. This might include convertible securities that have bond-like characteristics but can be converted into stocks or preferred securities that have attractive income characteristics.