Adams Funds
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Investment management |
| Predecessor | Adams Express Company |
| Founded | 1854 |
| Headquarters | Baltimore , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Mark E. Stoeckle (CEO and Senior Portfolio Manager) |
| Products | Closed-end funds (Adams Diversified Equity Fund, Adams Natural Resources Fund) |
Adams Funds, previously known as Adams Express Company, is an investment firm that includes Adams Diversified Equity Fund, Inc. (NYSE: ADX), a publicly traded diversified equity fund, along with Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. (NYSE: PEO), which was formerly Petroleum & Resources Corp. and specializes in energy and natural resources equities as a closed-end fund.
The company traces its roots back to Adams Express Company, a freight and cargo enterprise from the 19th century connected to the Pony Express. It shifted its focus to investment management in 1929, just prior to the stock market crash. Having endured the Great Depression, it stands as one of the longest-standing closed-end funds, with a history exceeding 90 years. The firm's investment philosophy emphasizes disciplined selection of superior companies through proprietary research and thorough fundamental analysis, with portfolio management targeting long-term capital growth. Both funds emphasize safeguarding principal while delivering dividends and capital gains for either income or reinvestment, sustaining uninterrupted dividend payments for more than eight decades and committing to a minimum annual payout of 6%.
Established in 1854, Adams Express ranks among the oldest entities listed on the NYSE and is one of only five companies to have continuously operated as a closed-end fund since 1929. It has consistently issued dividends without pause since 1935. The former New York headquarters, known as the Adams Express Building, began construction in 1912. In 1976, the company relocated its headquarters to Baltimore, Maryland, where it remains headquartered today.
Adams Funds conducts operations from Baltimore with an additional office situated in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 2013, Mark E. Stoeckle has held the roles of CEO and Senior Portfolio Manager.
History
In 1839, Alvin Adams, a produce merchant impacted by the Panic of 1837, initiated service transporting letters, small parcels, and valuables between Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts. Initially collaborating with Burke, Adams rapidly expanded Adams & Company into New York City, Philadelphia, and other cities along the East Coast. By 1847, its reach extended deep into Southern states, and by 1850 it was shipping goods via rail and stagecoach to St. Louis.
During the 1840s, Adams Express contributed to abolitionist activities by distributing anti-slavery newspapers throughout southern regions; notably in 1849, a slave named Henry "Box" Brown famously mailed himself to freedom using Adams Express services. The company reorganized in 1855 under the name Adams Express Company.
A branch called Adams & Company of California, established in 1850 to serve the Pacific Coast under Isaiah C. Woods' leadership, ceased operations by February 1855 due to ineffective management.
By the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Adams operated extensively across the South as Southern Express under Henry B. Plant, functioning as paymaster for both Union and Confederate armies.
The parent firm maintained strong holdings from New England and the mid-Atlantic region extending westward to the plains. By 1910, it was the second-largest shareholder in the Pennsylvania Railroad and ranked third in ownership of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, while also holding major stakes in companies such as American Express, Norfolk & Western Railroad, among others.
Adams' pre-Civil War employment of detective Allan Pinkerton to combat robberies played a pivotal role in founding the famed Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Eventually, under President Woodrow Wilson, Adams’ shipping interests were consolidated into American Railway Express Company, later renamed Railway Express Agency.
Since transitioning in 1929 into a closed-end fund (), Adams Express has been headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. As of 2015, it had maintained an unbroken streak of annual dividend payments for over eighty years (dating back to 1935). On March 31, 2015, it rebranded as Adams Diversified Equity Fund to better represent its move away from express services; however, it continues trading on the New York Stock Exchange using its original ticker symbol.
Cultural references
In his 1865 Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master, former slave Jordan Anderson identified Adams Express as his chosen method for receiving compensation for his unpaid work.
Adams Express Company is featured in the punchline of a Biblical-themed joke found in The Big Fun Book:
Q: "Why was Eve created?"
A: "For Adams Express Company."
See also
Further reading
- Dictionary of American History by James Truslow Adams, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940
References
External links
- Digitized copies of Adams Express Company Journal, 1855-1863, University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections
- Articles with short description
- Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- Logistics companies of the United States
- Massachusetts in the American Civil War
- Companies based in Baltimore
- Financial services companies established in 1854
- Financial services companies based in Maryland
- Railway Express Agency
- 1854 establishments in the United States