In his inaugural address on January 20, 1977, President Jimmy Carter extolled that the nation, “must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.” At times it seems we are living in a Moore’s Law-ian period of constant change. In finance, this change has lowered costs for passive, index-based investors, shepherded the advent of quantitative analytics, and enabled investors to efficiently expand analytical horizons.
This expansion has helped usher Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing criteria into the investment mainstream. According to The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, $12 trillion, or one-fourth of all US-based professionally managed assets, use ESG criteria in their analysis. While there are studies that show consideration of these factors have led to better returns, the increased adoption of ESG criteria should be celebrated because we believe it fosters better corporate behavior.
One particular focus of ESG analysis is company culture. This analysis focuses on factors such as employee health and welfare, equitable pay and the establishment of corporate values. In so doing, it acknowledges that a company’s employees are indeed its greatest asset.
Dana Investment Advisors has managed ESG strategies for two decades. Our adherence to ESG investment criteria is also represented in our corporate values: a culture centered on trust and integrity, a team built on the bedrock of inclusion and mutual support, and a commitment to responsible leadership. In recognition of our unchanging principles, last week Pensions & Investments named us a Best Places to Work in Money Management for the eighth consecutive year. We our very proud of our team members and grateful for this honor!
Dana Large Cap Equity Fund top-ten holdings as of September 30, 2019: Apple, Inc. (2.36%), Alphabet, Inc. Class A (2.28%), Microsoft Corp. (2.21%), CDW Corp. (2.20%), Comcast Corp. (A) (2.02%), D.R. Hoton, Inc. (2.10%), Intel Corp. (2.09%), Bristol-Myers Squibb Corp. (2.06%), T-Mobile, Inc. (2.04%), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (2.01%)
Dana Small Cap Equity Fund top-ten holdings as of September 30, 2019: Cabot Microelectronics Corp. (2.28%), CoreSite Realty Corp. (2.07%), EastGroup Properties, Inc. (2.06%), Chesapeake Utilities Corp. (2.04%), Horizon Therapeutics (2.03%), Southwest Gas Corp. (2.02%), Centerstate Bank Corp. (2.00%), Banner Corporation (1.99%), Synnex Corp. (1.99%), Stag Industrial, Inc. (1.97%).
Dana Epiphany ESG Equity Fund top-ten holdings as of September 30, 2019: Nexterra Energy, Inc. (2.76%), Amazon.com (2.74%), PepsiCo, Inc. (2.70%), Apple, Inc. (2.65%), Automatic Data Processing (2.55%), Microsoft Corp. (2.41%), Alphabet, Inc. Class C (2.40%), American Express Co. (2.15%), Facebook, Inc. (2.11%), Intel Corp. (2.03%).