Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund (DPG) Stock Overview
Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc.. More details
| Snowflake Score | |
|---|---|
| Valuation | 0/6 |
| Future Growth | 0/6 |
| Past Performance | 0/6 |
| Financial Health | 0/6 |
| Dividends | 2/6 |
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Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc. Competitors
Price History & Performance
| Historical stock prices | |
|---|---|
| Current Share Price | US$14.67 |
| 52 Week High | US$15.15 |
| 52 Week Low | US$11.97 |
| Beta | 0 |
| 1 Month Change | 1.45% |
| 3 Month Change | 1.95% |
| 1 Year Change | 19.46% |
| 3 Year Change | 21.74% |
| 5 Year Change | -1.41% |
| Change since IPO | -26.65% |
Recent News & Updates
Recent updates
Seeking Alpha • Dec 29
DPG: Defensive Monthly Dividends From Infrastructure
Summary Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc offers a 6.5% yield, strong dividend coverage, and resilience during market downturns. DPG’s portfolio is heavily weighted toward utilities and infrastructure, providing stability but limiting capital appreciation potential due to reliance on net realized gains. The DPG fund trades at a 9.91% discount to NAV, presenting a potential entry point for income-focused investors seeking global exposure. Elevated interest rates may suppress DPG’s total return, but robust earnings coverage suggests a dividend raise is likely within the next year. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Mar 14
DPG: 7% Yield On Defensive Utilities
Summary Utilities have risen nearly 20% over the past year, making them attractive for defensive, high-yield income through closed-end funds like DPG. DPG invests mainly in dividend-paying equities of utilities and infrastructure providers, offering a 7.18% yield. DPG's portfolio is heavily US-focused, with significant holdings in major utilities and midstream energy companies, showing strong price gains over the past year. Despite risks like non-diversification and interest rate sensitivity, DPG's deep discount to NAV and strong performance make it a speculative Buy. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Dec 19
DPG: This Utility Fund May Be Worth Considering
Summary The Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund offers a 7.25% yield, higher than most domestic utilities and utility indices, making it attractive for income-focused investors. The fund's recent performance has been strong, delivering a 15.37% total return over five months, outperforming the S&P 500 and the domestic utility sector. The fund was short call options on DTE Energy and NextEra Energy earlier this year, which could make sense given the possibly stretched valuations of those two stocks. The fund's strategic allocation in utility and infrastructure equities, combined with reduced leverage, enhances its appeal for risk-averse investors seeking high yields. Despite high expenses, the fund's recent success and attractive valuation, with an 11.02% discount on net asset value, make it a compelling choice for utility exposure. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Sep 30
DPG: Remains Attractive Even After A Solid Run
Summary Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc has performed well since last year's distribution cut and since our last update. Lower rates should benefit DPG with lower borrowing costs, which the underlying portfolio should benefit from as well, along with becoming relatively more attractive as yield plays. The fund's shift to a monthly payout schedule more recently and the discount continuing to remain attractive can also make it a potentially appealing option for investors. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Jul 22
DPG: A Backdoor Way To Play AI
Summary Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc offers an 8.20% yield, invests in common equities, and could benefit from the utility sector's growth. The DPG closed-end fund's distribution yield is just above the peer median, making it a decent option for an income portfolio. Despite some volatility, the fund has outperformed the S&P 500 Index and utility sector, showing positive performance and distribution coverage. Generative AI is likely to lead to a massive increase in electricity consumption, which will benefit utilities in the fund. The fund currently trades at an attractive double-digit discount to net asset value and is fully covering its distribution. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Apr 30
DPG: Why You Should Avoid The Utility Fund With A Big Discount And 9% Yield
Summary We had a hold rating on Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc. and had rated its sister fund as a Strong Sell. We look at the returns since that call. We tell you why the large yield and massive discount are not enough of a reason to jump in. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Feb 17
DPG: Attractive Discount On Infrastructure Exposure
Summary Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund is currently trading at an attractive discount, presenting a potential opportunity for investors. Lower interest rates could benefit DPG and the utility sector as a whole, potentially leading to a much better performance going forward. The fund's distribution remains more sustainable and quite reasonable after the distribution cut last year. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Feb 07
DPG: Amortizing Return Of Principal Fund
Summary Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund is trading at a steep 13% discount to NAV with an attractive 9.4% distribution yield. However, DPG has historically underperformed passive ETFs focused on utilities and midstream companies. The fund's high distribution yield appears unsustainable, and investors should seek utility exposure elsewhere. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Nov 24
DPG: Top 25 Big-Yield CEFs
Summary If you're a big-yield contrarian investor, the 9.2% yield Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund stands out like a sore thumb, as compared to 25 other top big yielders. Specifically, the fund has gotten slammed by its out-of-favor utilities sector exposure, plus the market's emotional overreaction to a recent distribution rightsizing. After reviewing its strategy, current market conditions, and valuation, we conclude with our strong opinion about investing in DPG. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Oct 09
DPG: Worth A Look As The Dust Settles
Summary Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund discount has expanded rapidly after their distribution cut earlier in the year. The discount on DPG's shares seems to be stabilizing as there are signs the dust is beginning to settle, offering the potential for better results in the future. Utilities are facing pressure from rising interest rates and inflation, which could impact their ability to sustain distributions even at the new lower rate. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Jul 31
Equity CEFs: So DPG Cuts, But GUT Won't Have To?
Summary It's been a rough year for utility stocks and utility focused CEFs as interest rates have moved up making their high dividend yields less attractive. So despite a bull market in just about everything this year, the SPDR Utility ETF (XLU) is actually down -3.5% YTD and -6.6% over the last year. Now utilities can mean a lot more than just generating, storing or transmitting electricity, particularly if you throw in infrastructure stocks like pipelines, natural gas, water, alternative energy, etc. But generally, electric utilities make up the bulk of XLU and even utility focused CEFs like the Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT) and the Duff & Phelps Utility & Infrastructure fund (DPG), which I will be using in this article for a valuation comparison. As many CEF investors know, GUT trades at the highest market price premium in CEF history, currently at a market price +114% over its NAV. DPG, on the other hand, dropped from a +15% premium to current -12.5% discount after cutting its distribution -40% on June 15. The only problem is that GUT should have been the one to cut. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Jul 03
DPG: The Big Cut
Summary Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund investors experienced a significant distribution cut, causing shares of DPG to fall substantially. The cut was due to increased leverage expenses and overall market conditions, making the previous distribution level unsustainable. Despite the cut, the fund's distribution rate remains attractive at 8.3%, and the fund is now trading at a discount, making it more interesting for investors. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Jun 22
Equity CEFs: I Continue To Add To DPG
Summary If you go strictly on valuations, what's happening right now is one of the most ridiculous examples of CEF irregularities that I have ever seen. The highly-regarded Duff & Phelps Utility & Infrastructure fund cut its quarterly distribution last Thursday by -40%, from $0.35/share to $0.21/share. And since then, DPG has lost roughly -25% in MKT price, dropping from a +13.5% premium at $12.72 last Thursday to a current -15% discount at around $9.45. What is inexplicable is why did DPG cut at a 12.5% NAV yield when another utility fund, the Gabelli Utility Trust, is at an astronomically higher 18.4% NAV yield. It makes zero sense that two funds with plenty of overlap in their holdings would see one fund cut with a much lower NAV yield while the other can maintain its distribution. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Feb 10
DPG: Fine Fund, High Premium
Summary DPG has continued to push into a higher premium after breaking into premium territory in 2021 for the first time since its inception. The fund's distribution has been steady, and although the NAV rate is elevated, I wouldn't expect a cut. The underlying portfolio holdings seem perfectly fine, but due to a higher premium, it remains a hold at this level. Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist. This article was originally published to members of the CEF/ETF Income Laboratory on February 9th, 2023. Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund (DPG) caught the premium bug a couple of years ago and hasn't been able to shake it. Perhaps, it's been hanging out with its sister fund for too long, DNP Select Income Fund Inc. (DNP). YCharts The fund's underlying portfolio is all sorts of things that I love to invest in: infrastructure that includes a heavy emphasis on utilities, some midstreams and a dash of other infrastructure plays such as toll roads and rail. It is the premium that makes me weary of adding or considering it at this time. Other funds can add similar exposure for a better valuation. However, we can still update the fund for those who continue to hold the name. We have an annual report to look at distribution coverage, and we can see what changes the portfolio has made since our last visit. Since our last update on this fund, the share price has decreased. On a total return basis, however, investors were given positive results. DPG Performance Since Prior Update (Seeking Alpha) The Basics 1-Year Z-score: 1.62 Premium: 11.51% Distribution Yield: 10.25% Expense Ratio: 1.62% Leverage: 29.44 Managed Assets: $662 million Structure: Perpetual The investment objective for DPG is "to seek total return, resulting primarily from (i) a high level of current income, with an emphasis on providing tax-advantaged dividend income, and (ii) growth in current income, and secondarily from capital appreciation." They intend to meet this objective by "investing primarily in equities of domestic and foreign utilities and infrastructure providers. The Fund's investment strategies endeavor to take advantage of the income and growth characteristics of equities in these industries." The fund's total expense ratio comes to 2.51% when including the leverage expenses. As interest rates have been rising, their borrowing costs have also been rising. However, they took down leverage slightly in the last fiscal year. Secured borrowings went from $170 million to $155 million. Their mandatory redeemable preferred shares stayed flat at $40 million year-over-year. The preferred here are floating rates, so they aren't sheltering the fund from the higher costs. It is based on 3-month LIBOR plus 1.95%. At the end of October 31st, 2022, the rate came to 5.69%. That's a massive leap from the weighted daily average rate of 3.16%, which itself was also elevated due to rapidly rising interest rates. Their borrowings through the credit agreement aren't much better, but they ended the fiscal year at a rate of 3.975%, averaging 1.88%. All that being said, with interest rates continuing to rise, leverage has only become even more expensive. Performance - Strong Investments, Too Expensive To continue on the topic of leverage for a bit, utilities are seen as a natural casualty of higher interest rates. Debt becomes more expensive, and investors who find utilities attractive are generally income investors who can now get ~4% rates from risk-free U.S. Treasuries. However, DPG noted an important point in its last annual report: most utility debt is long-term and fixed. Too bad DPG didn't take a page from their underlying portfolio position playbook and fix their interest rates too. In this discussion, they also noted that the rising costs could be recovered with a bit of lag. There has been increased concern recently about the earnings risk to utilities from refinancing variable rate, short-term debt at higher interest rates. It is important to note that the vast majority of utility company debt is fixed and long-term. Additionally, regulated utilities can generally recover rising interest expense through customer rates, though there can be a lag in recovery depending on the timing of rate cases. The bigger risk is at the unregulated operations of utilities' parent companies, where debt costs are not recoverable through regulatory mechanisms. So the higher interest rates aren't impacting these investments on the debt side of the equation. We certainly saw the utility sector doing what it does best in 2022, too. That was being the defensive plays they naturally are, and investors kept utilities flat for a year when everything else was down despite these concerns. That's also helped keep DPG stable over the last year, with similarly flat results. That was except for the fund's share price results. YCharts With an outperforming share price above the underlying portfolio performance, that's how we end up with a premium. A premium that was already elevated by now near all-time high record valuations. YCharts As I mentioned, some other funds with similar but not completely the same exposure could provide better values at this time. That could include Cohen & Steers Infrastructure Fund (UTF) and Reaves Utility Income Fund (UTG). These funds offer different approaches but are as close to what you could get to as 'peers' in the CEF world full of niche funds. Over the longer term, one might notice how much DPG has underperformed against these peers and its sister too. YCharts However, I'm somewhat willing to defend these results as the longer term isn't particularly relevant. They changed their name and investment policy at the end of 2019. The results since then have been more encouraging. Here are the results from January 1st, 2020, up to today. YCharts Distribution - Elevated But No Cut Expected A similarity between DPG and DNP is consistent distribution. However, DPG's history is much shorter than DNP's history. DPG also pays quarterly rather than DNP. DPG Distribution History (CEFConnect) With that being said, CEFs can pay out what they want for as long as they want until NAV goes to $0. In this case, the fund's distribution rate comes to 10.25%. That's certainly attractive, but with a hefty premium, the NAV rate is actually 11.43%. That's how much the fund has to earn to cover its distribution. That alone, we know, is an elevated level relative to what one might be able to expect over the longer term. Despite that, Duff & Phelps, if DNP is any indication, isn't into cutting their distributions. DPG Annual Report (Duff & Phelps) NII coverage came to 8.25%, and we know that with higher leverage costs, this should go down going forward. The decline could be negated to some degree by higher dividends in the portfolio, as most utility companies raise their dividends annually. Additionally, the fund carries energy names that pay out return of capital. That is subtracted to come up with the total investment income. Therefore, if we add that back in, we can get net distribution coverage or distributable cash flow. DPG Total Investment Income (Duff & Phelps) That would take coverage up to nearly 25%. A much better coverage, but most equity CEFs will require significant capital gains. Although the fund hadn't declined as much as the broader market, the realized gains and unrealized gains combined still meant a decline in assets. Some of these realized gains came from their option writing strategy. That can be replicated in a flat or down year. DPG Realized/Unrealized Gains/Losses (Duff & Phelps) This all suggests that the fund didn't cover its distribution in the last year, which can become a problem if it happens year after year. For tax purposes, that also means we have seen some destructive return of capital in the fund despite collecting ROC distributions on its underlying holding. Here's the 2022 tax information they provided.Seeking Alpha • Dec 15
Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund declares $0.35 dividend
Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund (NYSE:DPG) declares $0.35/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 10.69% Payable March 31; for shareholders of record April 15; ex-div March 14. See DPG Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth.Seeking Alpha • Oct 26
DPG: Underperforming The Index But Might Make Sense If The Price Drops
Summary Utilities and infrastructure companies tend to make good investments during uncertain times because of their overall stability and reasonably high yields. DPG invests in a portfolio of these assets with the goal of providing its investors with a high level of current income. The fund has generally underperformed the index over the past year but it is also better positioned to take advantage of any opportunities. The fund yields 11.08% and appears able to sustain this payout. The fund is trading at an incredibly high price, which makes it somewhat less appealing as an investment than it otherwise would be. For years, one of the most popular investments for conservative risk-average investors, such as retirees, has been utilities. There are some very good reasons for this, including the fact that these companies tend to be incredibly stable entities that typically boast dividend yields that are above many other things in the market. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to put together a diversified portfolio of these companies without having access to a considerable amount of capital. In addition, the overheated market that the country has been experiencing over much of the past decade has pushed the yields of these companies down to unremarkable levels. Fortunately, there is a solution to both of these problems. That solution is to invest in a closed-end fund that specializes in the utility sector. These funds provide access to a diversified, professionally-managed portfolio that can in many cases deliver much higher yields than any of the underlying assets possess. In this article, we will look at one of these funds, the Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund (DPG). I have discussed this fund before but a year has passed since then so obviously a great many things have changed. This article will therefore focus specifically on these changes and provide an updated analysis of the fund’s financial performance. Thus, we will see if this 11.08%-yielding fund could deserve a place in your portfolio today. About The Fund According to the fund’s webpage, the Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund has the stated objective of providing its investors with a high level of total return. This is hardly surprising for an equity fund since equities are a total return instrument. After all, people that invest in these securities are typically interested in both receiving dividends and generating capital gains. The fund specifically states that it will emphasize current income as the way that it provides these returns, although capital appreciation is something that would also be nice to experience. As may be expected, the fund aims to achieve its objective by investing specifically in utilities and infrastructure providers. It does not specifically state how it defines a utility or an infrastructure provider, but as we will see in this article, this mostly includes electric, natural gas, and water utilities along with midstream energy companies, railroads, and similar companies. Basically, these are the companies that allow modern society to function in the way that we are accustomed to. It is important to note that the fund does not specifically state whether it only invests in common equities issued by these companies or if it can also purchase preferred equity from the sector. If the fund can include preferred shares, then this could help reduce its volatility somewhat since preferred equity does not usually fall as much as the common during bear markets. In addition, it will frequently have higher yields than common equity and thus could do wonders at improving the fund’s ability to generate income for its investors. On the flip side though, it also does not typically deliver much in the way of capital gains when the market is in a bullish phase. As my regular readers likely know, I have frequently discussed both utilities and midstream companies here at Seeking Alpha. As such, the largest positions in the fund will likely be familiar to many readers. Here they are: Duff & Phelps I have discussed most of these companies in the past, but admittedly not all of them. In particular, I have never discussed Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). Canadian Pacific Railway is always the only company on this list that is not a utility or a midstream company. This alone is not necessarily a problem since it does have many of the same characteristics that the other companies possess such as generally stable cash flows. After all, railroads are generally the most efficient way to transport products over land because they can transport substantially larger amounts of cargo than trucks and cargo has to be shipped over land in order for products that we want to buy to be in the local store. The case for utilities having stable cash flow is fairly self-explanatory since people typically prioritize paying their utility bills ahead of making discretionary expenses. Midstream companies typically have their cash flow guaranteed by contracts. Thus, all of these companies should prove to be reasonably stable over time. We see a number of changes here compared to when we last looked at this fund a year ago. In fact, the only companies that were among the fund’s largest holdings last year are NextEra Energy (NEE) and Ameren Corporation (AEE). Every other position was added over the past year. This may make us think that the fund has a fairly high turnover, which could be concerning for some investors. This is because it costs money to actively change positions in a portfolio, which the stockholders have to pay for. Index funds have become popular for precisely this reason as their lack of much in the way of portfolio changes allows them to have considerably lower expenses than actively-managed funds. This does not mean that a fund that does a lot of asset trading will have lower performance but it does mean that management has a much harder job to cover costs and beating the index. With that said, the Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund has an annual turnover of 45.00%. This is not particularly high for an equity closed-end fund, although it is still substantially higher than an index fund. It’s also worth noting that the fund’s annual turnover was 50.00% the last time that we looked at it so it appears that management is reducing trading activity. As my regular readers on the topic of closed-end funds are likely well aware, I do not generally like to see any position in a fund account for more than 5% of the fund’s total portfolio. This is because that is approximately the level at which a position begins to expose the fund to idiosyncratic risk. Idiosyncratic, or company-specific, risk is the risk that any asset possesses that is independent of the market as a whole. This is the risk that we aim to eliminate through diversification, but if the asset accounts for too much of the portfolio, then this risk will not be completely diversified away. Thus, the concern is that some event may occur that causes the price of a given asset to decline when the market itself does not, and if it accounts for too much of the portfolio then it may end up dragging the entire portfolio down with it. I demonstrated how this can be an issue in a recent article. We can see above that only one position, NextEra Energy, is above this 5% threshold as of the time of writing. This may be concerning as NextEra Energy appears to be somewhat overvalued at the current price, which has been shown in numerous articles that have been published on this site over the past few months. Thus, we may see this company fall somewhat farther than a less highly-valued stock should we enter into a prolonged bear market. Investors should keep this in mind and be sure that they are willing to be exposed to the risks of this particular company before making an investment in the fund. As stated earlier, the Duff and Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund invests in utilities, midstream companies, and other types of infrastructure firms. We saw that earlier just by looking at the fund’s largest positions list. However, the overwhelming majority of the fund’s portfolio is invested in utility companies: CEF Connect As we can clearly see, 84.07% of the fund is invested in utilities, a sector weighting that dwarfs any other. As such, we can benchmark it against the utility index to measure its performance. Unfortunately, the Duff & Phelps Fund does not do too well here. Over the past twelve months, the fund has lost 10.19%, which is substantially worse than the 3.36% loss suffered by the utility index: Seeking Alpha The fact that the Duff & Phelps Fund has a substantially higher yield does help to offset this somewhat but overall, the index fund did still deliver a higher total return over the twelve-month period. With that said, the index is not a perfect comparison for two reasons: The index fund invests only in utilities while the closed-end fund invests in things outside of the traditional utility space such as midstream companies, railroads, toll roads, and similar businesses. The index fund only invests in American companies but the closed-end fund is a global fund. As just stated, the Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund invests in both domestic and foreign equities. This is an important difference because American equities have outperformed equities in many other nations. This is especially noticeable when we compare the United States to Europe. The S&P 500 index (SPY) is down 15.98% over the past twelve months but the iShares Europe ETF (IEV) is down 25.27% over the same period. Thus, the foreign stocks held by the fund may be dragging down its performance relative to the index. It may be some comfort to potential investors that the fund is currently very heavily invested in the United States, though: CEF Connect As we can see, 96.87% of the fund is currently invested in the United States, which dwarfs its weighting to any other nation. This is something that is nice to see in the current market environment considering that the challenges facing the American economy today are much less than those facing Europe or much of Asia. The fact that the fund is a global fund also brings certain advantages in that the fund can move its money to other nations should their fundamentals begin to improve relative to the United States. This is one advantage of active management and it is something that is worth considering before deciding whether to invest in the index fund over the closed-end fund. Leverage As stated in the introduction, closed-end funds like the Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund can use certain strategies to boost their yields above what the underlying assets actually possess. One of these strategies is the use of leverage. Basically, the fund borrows money and then uses the borrowed money to buy stocks issued by utility and infrastructure companies. As long as the purchased stock delivers a higher total return, then this strategy works quite well to boost the overall return of the portfolio. As the fund can borrow at institutional rates, which tend to be much lower than retail rates, this will normally be the case. However, the use of leverage is a double-edged sword because it boosts both gains and losses. Thus, we want to make sure that the fund is not using too much leverage since that would expose us to too much risk. I generally do not like to see a fund have leverage exceeding a third of the value of its assets for this reason. The Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund meets this requirement as of the time of writing as the fund’s current leverage ratio is only 32.52% of its assets. Thus, the fund appears to be maintaining a reasonable balance between risk and return. Distribution Analysis One reason why investors like utilities is that these companies tend to have higher yields than most other things in the market. In addition, the Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund specifically states that it aims to deliver its total return to investors in the form of current income. As such, we can likely assume that the fund boasts a reasonably high distribution yield. This is indeed the case as the fund currently pays out a quarterly distribution of $0.35 per share ($1.40 per share annually), which gives it an 11.08% yield at the current price. This is obviously substantially higher than the 1.63% yield of the S&P 500 index and it is even well above the 2.51% yield of the aforementioned iShares U.S. Utilities ETF. The fund has been remarkably consistent in its distribution over the years. In fact, it is one of the only funds that has never changed its distribution since its inception: CEF Connect This will undoubtedly appeal to anyone that is looking for a steady and consistent source of income to use to pay their bills. Unfortunately, the fact that it has not increased its distribution also means that the fund’s distributions have been constantly losing purchasing power with the passage of time unless the distribution is reinvested. This is something that could be a problem in today’s inflationary environment. It is also difficult to understand how the fund has shown such consistency over the years when very few other funds have managed this feat. The fact that a sizable proportion of the fund’s recent distributions are considered to be a return of capital exacerbates these concerns: Fidelity Investments The reason why this may be concerning is that a return of capital can be a sign that the fund is returning the investors’ own money back to them. This is obviously not sustainable over any sort of extended period. However, there are other things that can cause a distribution to qualify as a return of capital, such as the distribution of money received from partnerships or the distribution of unrealized capital gains. These are both things that this fund might be doing. As such, we should have a look at the fund’s finances to figure out how it is financing these distributions and determine exactly how sustainable they are likely to be. Unfortunately, we do not have a particularly recent report to use for that purpose. The fund’s most recent financial report corresponds to the six-month period ending April 30, 2022. As such, it will not give us much insight into the fund’s performance over the past few months. It will however tell us how the fund handled the market turmoil in the first four months of this year. During the six-month period, the Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund brought in a total of $13,177,097 in dividends from the assets in its portfolio. However, $5,678,266 of that came from the various master limited partnerships that the fund holds and so was considered to be a return of capital and not income. This gives the fund a total income of $7,498,831. It paid its expenses out of this amount, leaving it with $1,918,905 available for the shareholders. This was nowhere close to enough to cover the $26,605,021 that the fund actually paid out in distributions during the same period, however. This is certainly something that is quite concerning at first glance.Seeking Alpha • Sep 22
Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund declares $0.35 dividend
Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund (NYSE:DPG) declares $0.35/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 10.19% Payable Dec. 30; for shareholders of record Dec. 15; ex-div Dec. 14. See DPG Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth.Seeking Alpha • Jul 07
DPG: Leverage Will Be More Costly, But Income Is Stable
Now that DPG is trading down and yields are going above 10% by a decent margin, one might want to consider it for its income and exposures. Oil and gas infrastructure, whether commodity exposed or not, are decent investments right now. While the utility exposure is scattershot, it has quite a lot of regulated utilities that offer surefire income in a recession. Overall, the moment isn't bad for DPG, but note it is a leveraged fund and those costs are rising. Duff & Phelps Utility Infrastructure Fund (DPG), much better known as DPG, commanded a bit of a premium when we last looked at it that didn't seem worth it. We now think that DPG investments are relatively well positioned and that the income proposition bears consideration. While leverage costs are rising and this affects the DPG strategy, key exposures offer a resilient baseline income that we can appreciate in an environment where dividend yields give returns a nice head-start. Overall, with real asset positioning, DPG is worth a look. The Economic View It is pretty obvious to everyone that we are going into a recession. Nothing is good about our current economic environment, and the economic failing are as malignant as possible all being cost push and productivity related issues. Tangible assets lie at the root of global productivity, providing and distributing energy and acting as key infrastructure for global enterprise. DPG offers that in spades with its exposures. Moreover, with the equity markets being highly unstable, and low clarity on the extent to which markets have corrected for the inevitable recession, dividend yields are going to be important for investors. Rising rates to tackle inflation simply means economic value destruction will come from crimped household income and destroyed asset wealth rather than eroded purchasing power, and with it being unclear how leading the stock market is with respect to the economic hurt we'll see in the statistics over the next 8 months or 2 years, depending on the severity of our bear market, a dividend yield means a head-start on returns where capital appreciation is unreliable. DPG Exposures DPG offers strong real asset exposures. The fund is leveraged by 40%, but this borrowed cash is being put to work in cash generative companies. While some utility exposures are underwhelming as we detailed in our previous article, the turn in commodities offers some respite for more exposed stocks, where much of DPG exposures are commodity market resistant on the demand side. Oil & Gas 30% of the DPG portfolio is allocated to Oil & Gas. Of all the commodities that have boomed of late, these are the least connected to an overheated good market, and are less likely to fall as rates rise due to durable changes to the demand side. Oil supply has been underinvested and even the greatest OEPC nations have little spare capacity. With Russian supply falling away as an option for the western bloc for import, the Ukraine invasion has made total supply permanently lessened and prices structurally supported. Where DPG has commodity exposures it is to oil and gas, which we believe are more durable in the coming recession due to supply side issues. With refining being the biggest beneficiary of overheated goods, there is a decent buffer to the price of oil when good markets turn. Moreover, DPG's oil and gas exposures are not so skewed towards businesses that are commodity exposed. Many investment are in companies that operate or own real assets merely involved in the transport of commodities such as Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) and Kinder Morgan (KMI). These along with many other commodity infrastructure plays make the brunt of the oil and gas exposure. Utilities In addition to oil and gas, major exposures are within utilities. Here we have stocks that indeed are somewhat unimpressive, mainly companies that deal a lot of with retail energy markets, where governmental intervention could limit profitability in some markets, especially outside the US, and companies that generate electricity from inputs such as gas that have rocketed in price.Seeking Alpha • Apr 04
DPG Has Some OK Exposures But Modest Premium Isn't Worth It
DPG is exposed in some nice ways to the current commodity environment. However, it trades at a moderate premium to NAV, and it has many exposures that it could well do without. We don't see the value in investing in their mostly utilities-focused diversified portfolio when selectivity in utilities is so important right now. But they do offer a high yield, so for an income investor the tacit assurance of payout might make it worth it, but otherwise we'd look elsewhere. Despite their leverage, they haven't beaten the market, and they shouldn't do so in the near future.Seeking Alpha • Oct 29
DPG: Good Fund, Reasonable But Premium Valuation
Utilities and infrastructure are generally good entities for retirees and other income-focused investors. DPG invests in these generally stable entities and boasts a reasonably diversified portfolio that is mostly focused on utilities and midstream. The future of both utilities and midstream is quite bright, although electric utilities may not see the growth that some people expect. The fund easily covered its distributions during the most recent fiscal period, which is very comforting. The valuation is a premium but not nearly as high as it typically averages.Seeking Alpha • Aug 14
Evaluating CEFs: DPG Had A Good Year, But Still Is Overpaying The Distribution
DPG has an attractive 9.6% yield and I like the manager. This is a great investment if it can support the distribution. I continue my series looking at CEFs beyond just the yield. While the fund did well over the last year, its long-term performance and distribution coverage is still a concern. This last year's performance isn't enough to make it a buy, but it likely put off the inevitable distribution cut.Seeking Alpha • Jul 08
DPG: ~9.6% Distribution Rate On This Utility Fund
DPG recently slid from its historically high premium before charging back up higher. Though some of this had come from a decline in NAV as utilities have sold off. The fund has historically been weaker than its peers, but that doesn't necessarily mean going forward it will be the same result.Shareholder Returns
| DPG | US Capital Markets | US Market | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7D | 2.7% | -0.02% | 1.0% |
| 1Y | 19.5% | 10.3% | 28.7% |
Return vs Industry: DPG exceeded the US Capital Markets industry which returned 10.3% over the past year.
Return vs Market: DPG underperformed the US Market which returned 27.1% over the past year.
Price Volatility
| DPG volatility | |
|---|---|
| DPG Average Weekly Movement | 2.1% |
| Capital Markets Industry Average Movement | 3.6% |
| Market Average Movement | 7.2% |
| 10% most volatile stocks in US Market | 16.4% |
| 10% least volatile stocks in US Market | 3.1% |
Stable Share Price: DPG has not had significant price volatility in the past 3 months compared to the US market.
Volatility Over Time: DPG's weekly volatility (2%) has been stable over the past year.
About the Company
| Founded | Employees | CEO | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | n/a | Nathan Partain | www.dpgfund.com |
Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc.. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. The fund is managed by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. It invests in the public equity markets across the globe. The fund seeks to invest in the companies operating in utility sector. It invests in stocks of companies across diversified market capitalizations.
Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc. Fundamentals Summary
| DPG fundamental statistics | |
|---|---|
| Market cap | US$530.18m |
| Earnings (TTM) | US$0 |
| Revenue (TTM) | n/a |
n/a
P/E Ration/a
P/S RatioIs DPG overvalued?
See Fair Value and valuation analysisEarnings & Revenue
| DPG income statement (TTM) | |
|---|---|
| Revenue | US$0 |
| Cost of Revenue | US$0 |
| Gross Profit | US$0 |
| Other Expenses | US$0 |
| Earnings | US$0 |
Last Reported Earnings
n/a
Next Earnings Date
n/a
| Earnings per share (EPS) | 0 |
| Gross Margin | 0.00% |
| Net Profit Margin | 0.00% |
| Debt/Equity Ratio | 0.0% |
How did DPG perform over the long term?
See historical performance and comparisonDividends
5.7%
Current Dividend Yieldn/a
Payout RatioDoes DPG pay a reliable dividends?
See DPG dividend history and benchmarks| Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund dividend dates | |
|---|---|
| Ex Dividend Date | May 29 2026 |
| Dividend Pay Date | Jun 10 2026 |
| Days until Ex dividend | 5 days |
| Days until Dividend pay date | 17 days |
Does DPG pay a reliable dividends?
See DPG dividend history and benchmarksCompany Analysis and Financial Data Status
| Data | Last Updated (UTC time) |
|---|---|
| Company Analysis | 2026/05/22 14:17 |
| End of Day Share Price | 2026/05/22 00:00 |
| Earnings | N/A |
| Annual Earnings | N/A |
Data Sources
The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.
| Package | Data | Timeframe | Example US Source * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company Financials | 10 years |
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| Analyst Consensus Estimates | +3 years |
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| Market Prices | 30 years |
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| Ownership | 10 years |
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| Management | 10 years |
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| Key Developments | 10 years |
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* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.
Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.
Analysis Model and Snowflake
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Industry and Sector Metrics
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Analyst Sources
Duff & Phelps Utility and Infrastructure Fund Inc. is covered by 0 analysts. 0 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.