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How long does the “Blackout Period” last during Australian reporting season?

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Question asked 05/07/2022

How long does the “Blackout Period” last during Australian reporting season?

Hi, Because Australia is approaching reporting season companies are in a blackout. How long does a blackout last? Is there a complete ban on all updated until a company releases dividends to the public? I Don't like some "broker moves" terminology. I was surprised to deduce that overweight at JP Morgan = accumulate with a price target. I would have thought that overweight would mean reduce holdings. And as for Wilsons "cut to market - weight = GOKW (God only Knows)? Cheers Alan

Answer

Hi Alan,

The “Blackout Period” is the time between when a company closes its books for a reporting period and they make this news public to the market i.e. from 30 June to sometime in August generally for full year results. During that time, insiders (meaning Directors etc) cannot trade in shares, nor can the company buy-back any stock (if a buy-back is in place).

As for terminology around overweight / underweight etc, different brokers use different terminology however they can be broadly translated to the following:

Underweight, underperform, negative, reduce = SELL
Market weight, market perform, neutral = HOLD
Overweight, Outperform, Attractive, Accumulate = BUY

I hope that helps

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