The Barron's Roundup

Barron's Speaking Of Dividends: This Barron's column highlights the latest dividend increases, initiations, and cutbacks. This week's issue includes some info on Aflac (AFL) among others.

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Barron's: Barron's interviewed Joseph McNay, chairman of Essex Investment Management. McNay manages more than $3 billion at Essex, including its flagship long-short fund and a natural resources fund. Some of the stocks McNay currently favors are Biomarin Pharmaceuticals (BMRN), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) and Aladdin Knowledge Systems (ALDN) among others.

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Barron's Summaries: Each week Barron's has bullish and bearish stories on a variety of stocks. We present the summaries in this portfolio. This week's issue includes a bullish story on Microsoft (MSFT) and Dynegy (DYN) and a bearish piece on Blackstone Group (BX) among others.

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Latest activist hedge fund purchases: Which companies are the top hedge funds chasing? This week's list includes names like Indymac Bancorp (IMB), Guaranty Financial Group (GFG) and EnPro Industries (NPO) among others.

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Research Reports: The latest analyst research reports highlighted by Barron's include Valero Energy (VLO), Virgin Media (VMED) and Waddell & Reed Financial (WDR) among others.

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Top Insider Purchases of the Week: Insider purchases are a lot more predictive than insider selling. Barron's list the top purchases and we take it one step further by telling you who is purchasing. Some interesting activity in stocks like ETFC, LGF, T and C.

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