JFR Stock Recent News

U.S. senior floating rate loans offer unique protection against interest rate volatility along with high yield, making them a valuable diversifier in income-focused portfolios. Explore the benefits of senior loans and Nuveen's strategy and outlook with Nuveen Head of Senior Loans Scott Caraher. Nuveen, the investment manager of TIAA, offers a comprehensive range of outcome-focused investment solutions including the Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund.

We review the CEF market valuation and performance through the third week of January and highlight recent market action. CEFs had a strong week, driven by rallies in stocks and Treasuries, with higher-beta MLP and REIT sectors leading. Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund's rights offering is discussed, emphasizing the importance of either selling or exercising the rights.

JFR announced a transferable rights offering, allowing existing shareholders to purchase new shares at a discount. This move will increase the fund's assets under management (AUM) and liquidity but may cause short-term price weakness. The fund remains heavily weighted towards leveraged loans (84% of holdings) with a low duration of 0.44 years and high leverage (38%).

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund (NYSE: JFR) today announced that its Board of Trustees (the “Board”) has approved the terms of the issuance of transferable rights (“Rights”) to the holders of the Fund's common shares (par value $.01 per share) (“Common Shares”) as of January 21, 2025 (the “Record Date”). Holders of Rights will be entitled to subscribe for additional Common Shares (the “Offer”) at a discount to the market price of the Common Shares. After considering.

Floating rate funds like JFR offer decent distribution yields and should continue to do so despite expected rate cuts, as rates aren't expected to go back to zero. JFR remains relatively attractive compared to peers in the closed-end fund senior loan space, though bargain valuations are tougher to come by in this space. With a high amount of leverage, there is relatively more risk to be cognizant of here, but that can come with greater reward as well.

Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund focuses on high-yielding fixed income securities, which enables the Fund to offer ~11% yield. A major driver for the double-digit yield is a significant concentration in below investment grade securities. Plus, most of JFR's investments are in floating rate instruments and the FOMC dot plot indicates a potential risk of yield compression.

The Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund offers a significantly higher yield than most fixed-rate bond funds, currently at 11.68%. The fund primarily invests in floating-rate securities that deliver a higher level of income when short-term rates rise, while maintaining a relatively stable price. The fund's high yield may not be enough to keep up with inflation after paying taxes on distributions, so holding it in a tax-advantaged account is recommended.

Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund invests in leveraged loans. We rated JFR as "Buy" previously. JFR has delivered a total return of over 19% since its merger with other Nuveen leveraged loan CEFs. The fund is overweight in single-B credits and has a low allocation to riskier CCC-s.

Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund is a closed-end fund that primarily invests in floating-rate, senior loans. The fund has a consistent dividend history, with fluctuations based on interest rate trends. JFR has a diversified portfolio, with a concentration in the Hotels, Restaurants, and Leisure industry, which poses a risk in tough economic times.

JFR merged with three of its sister funds earlier this year, which were all focused on floating rates or holding a short-duration fixed-income portfolio. This combination made JFR the largest floating-rate focused fund in the closed-end fund space, larger hasn't meant necessarily better though. The fund's discount appears attractive and the distribution rate is fully covered; however, its performance has been a bit lackluster relative to some peers.