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How the Right Is Waging War on Climate-Conscious Investing

How the Right Is Waging War on Climate-Conscious Investing

The Atlantic6 days ago
In January 2020, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock—the world's largest asset-management firm—released his annual letter to corporate executives. The letters had become something of a tradition: part investor missive, part State of the Union, dispatched each year from the top of the financial world. This one struck a tone of alarm that would reverberate far beyond Wall Street.
'Climate change has become a defining factor in companies' long-term prospects,' Fink warned. 'We are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance.' He said that BlackRock would be 'increasingly disposed to vote against management and board directors when companies are not making sufficient progress' on sustainability.
The message signaled the degree to which a once-obscure investing philosophy known as ESG—short for 'environmental, social, and governance'—had become a boardroom priority. For a moment, it looked like corporate America would weigh carbon emissions alongside profits. More major companies soon announced climate goals and promised new standards of accountability. BlackRock helped lead an effort to elect sustainability advocates to the board of ExxonMobil. A consensus seemed to be forming: Business could be a force for good, and markets might even help save the planet.
Now, just five years later, that consensus is crumbling. BP is pulling back on a commitment to invest in renewables—and is reportedly expanding plans for drilling. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have scaled back their plastic-reduction pledges. Major banks, such as JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, are hedging their climate bets and investing heavily in fossil-fuel companies. Asset-management firms that joined BlackRock in embracing ESG—including Vanguard and State Street—have also backed off. And Fink's 2025 letter to investors does not even mention the word climate.
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'This further exacerbates the problem of slow-walking climate action at a time when the temperature records are being broken and devastating weather events are accelerating,' Richard Brooks, the climate finance director for Stand.earth, an international environmental-advocacy organization that focuses in part on corporate contributions to climate change, told us.
This global retreat has been particularly acute in the United States, where political resistance to ESG has grown into an organized countermovement. The issue is now a fixture in partisan attack ads, Republican statehouse legislation, and right-wing media. The forces arrayed against ESG say they are just getting started.
In January, a group of present and former Republican state officials gathered at a posh resort in Sea Island, Georgia, together with conservative leaders, for a two-day lesson in how to dismantle corporate America's most ambitious response to climate change. At the Cloister, with its golf courses, tennis courts, and beaches, ESG was denounced as a sinister force undermining free markets and democracy.
'I would hope everyone here is pretty much committed to destroying ESG,' said Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers' Research, the organization that has led the fight. His group, he said, had spent $5 million running ads 'educating consumers' about the dangers of ESG.
Hild spread a similar message at other events this spring, according to transcripts of his remarks that we obtained. 'ESG is when they use their market share to push a far-left agenda, without ever having to go to voters, without any electoral accountability,' said Hild at a March meeting of state activists. 'This is not the free market operating. This is a cartel. This is a mafia.'
At its core, ESG investing means integrating nonfinancial factors—such as climate risk, carbon emissions, pollution, and corporate governance—into investment decisions, with the idea that these issues could materially affect long-term performance. Firms that offer ESG funds screen out companies that don't meet a set of criteria for climate protection, and pitch their products to investors as climate-friendly alternatives to conventional funds.
But in the eyes of its critics, ESG investing undermines democratic governance, imposes political priorities through the financial system, and breaches the independence of state financial officers to seek maximum return on investments. 'By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda,' Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in 2023 when he introduced legislation prohibiting the use of ESG investment by Florida pension and other state funds.
That narrative has taken hold with a wide swath of Republican leaders. Donald Trump attacked ESG on the campaign trail last year, and in an April 8 executive order, the president said that state-level climate-emissions and ESG laws 'are fundamentally irreconcilable with my Administration's objective to unleash American energy. They should not stand.'
The roots of ESG can be traced to faith-based investing of the 18th century, when some religious denominations sought to avoid investment in corporations that promoted trading enslaved people. In the 20th century, the movement called 'socially responsible investing' gained momentum during the civil-rights era and, later, in connection with opposition to apartheid in South Africa.
The term ESG was formally coined in a 2004 report by the United Nations Global Compact titled 'Who Cares Wins,' which argued that better corporate integration of environmental, social, and governance factors could lead to more-sustainable markets and better outcomes around the globe. ESG investing grew in the 2010s as the public grew more concerned about diversity, the environment, and executive pay. Major asset managers such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street began offering ESG products, and companies competed to establish metrics to track compliance. As the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock played an especially influential role.
Because there was no single established metric for meeting climate goals, critics on the left complained that ESG encouraged greenwashing, in which companies claim to be making environmental progress without making an actual commitment. But even critics were forced to concede that ESG brought about increased transparency. In 2018, 34 percent of publicly traded global companies disclosed greenhouse-gas-emission details. By 2023, that share had risen to 63 percent, an increase generally attributable to ESG efforts, according to R. Paul Herman, the founder and CEO of HIP Investor Inc.
Although many asset managers noted the difficulties of measuring greenhouse-gas emissions, they embraced ESG as part of their long-term management strategy—and trillions of dollars flowed to them. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, global ESG-fund assets reached around $30 trillion in 2022. The analytics firm forecast in February 2024 that global ESG assets would surpass $40 trillion by 2030.
Expectations for ESG have now fallen off dramatically—and Hild and his three colleagues at Consumers' Research can claim much of the credit. At seminars such as the one at Sea Island, Hild and his allies armed a network of Republican state attorneys general, state treasurers, and comptrollers with legal and political ammunition.
The key funders of such efforts include fossil-fuel-industry executives and Leonard Leo, who is best known for his leadership of the Federalist Society. In recent years, Leo has moved beyond his focus on transforming America's courts, vowing in videotaped remarks in 2023 to take on 'wokeism in the corporate environment, in the educational environment,' biased media, and 'entertainment that is really corrupting our youth.'
Beginning in 2021, Leo and his team injected cash into a long-dormant organization that they would use to fight ESG: Consumers' Research. A spokesperson for Leo told us that 'woke companies are defrauding their consumers and poisoning our culture, and Leonard Leo is proud to support Will Hild and Consumers' Research as they crush liberal dominance in those woke companies and hold them accountable.'
The organization found a receptive audience among Republican state officials eager for a road map to combatting ESG. The group emphasized using leverage that states possess through their management of pension funds to punish investment firms that had signed on to boycott oil and gas companies.
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Republican attorneys general from a few fossil-fuel-dependent states, such as Texas and West Virginia, began in 2021 to investigate whether investments tied to ESG guidelines violated state laws. They sent letters of inquiry to major firms such as BlackRock and Vanguard, questioning whether their ESG practices were legally compatible with states' fiduciary obligations, especially concerning pension funds.
That same year, Texas enacted Senate Bill 13, which requires state pension systems and other state endowments to divest from financial institutions seen as hostile to the oil and gas industry. Under that law, the state attorney general's office placed more than 370 investment firms on a blacklist—including BlackRock and several divisions of major banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.
The following year, the offensive intensified. A coalition of 19 Republican attorneys general sent a joint letter to Fink, the BlackRock CEO, accusing the company of putting climate goals ahead of financial returns and pressuring corporations to align with international climate treaties such as the Paris Agreement.
'BlackRock appears to use the hard-earned money of our states' citizens to circumvent the best possible return on investment,' the letter warned. It cited proxy-voting strategies and coordination with groups such as the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative as potential legal overreach.
Since 2022, 23 Republican state attorneys general have opened investigations into ESG-focused investment firms. Several of those officials had help from an Arizona-based private firm, Fusion Law, which received $4.5 million from Consumers' Research in its first two years of existence. One of the firm's founders, Paul Watkins, is a former Arizona civil-litigation chief in the state's attorney general's office—and was also a legal fellow at Consumers' Research.
'Paul Watkins and Fusion Law have been essential in helping to unravel and document the inner workings of ESG,' Hild told us. The firm has had contracts to work on ESG-related issues with attorneys general in Tennessee and Utah. Watkins has been a featured speaker at Consumers' Research events, including the gathering in January.
Recently, state-level investigators began probing the question of whether environmental groups, asset managers, and shareholder-advocacy organizations were engaged in collusion, using ESG to restrain trade in fossil-fuel companies, in violation of antitrust laws.
The opposition of red-state officials has chilled discussion of sustainable investments at institutional-investor meetings, according to participants, despite accusations of hypocrisy from Democratic officials in blue states. Brad Lander, New York City's comptroller, told us that Republicans are distorting investment decisions by putting their thumb on the scale against ESG.
'These are people who once upon a time believed in free markets,' Lander, a Democrat, told us. 'I'm not telling anyone how to invest. I just don't want them to tell me.'
Evidence suggests that the Republican push has been costly to taxpayers. A study by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business found that the Texas law banning municipalities from doing business with banks that have ESG policies reduced the competition for borrowing—and generated a potential cost of up to $532 million in extra interest per year.
Nonetheless, the anti-ESG movement is spreading: What began largely as a state-level attack has now blossomed on Capitol Hill. In mid-2023, House Republicans, led by Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, launched a wide-ranging probe into ESG practices. More than 60 entities, including environmental groups, corporations, and financial institutions, were asked to provide information on alleged coordination aimed at limiting fossil-fuel investment.
The committee's interim staff report, released last year, accused ESG advocates of forming a 'climate cartel' that sought to 'impose left-wing environmental, social, and governance goals' through coordinated pressure campaigns. The report alleged that such efforts amounted to collusion in restraint of trade.
During his inquiry, Jordan issued waves of subpoenas targeting organizations such as Ceres, BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, and the shareholder-advocacy nonprofit As You Sow. Targets of the inquiry were required to turn over more than 100,000 pages of email and other communications as the committee investigated allegations of antitrust violations and collusion in recommending sustainable-investment options. 'The investigation was abusive, and it was chilling,' said Danielle Fugere, the president and chief counsel of As You Sow, who testified for more than eight hours before Jordan's panel last year.
'You cannot defy the reality of climate change and the scientific imperative of acting,' said Mindy Lubber, the president and CEO of the pro-sustainability nonprofit group Ceres, which has been active in prodding companies into taking part in ESG measures. But, she said, 'everybody is afraid of the bull's-eyes on their backs.'
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Jordan's inquiry is continuing this year, with a focus on possible antitrust violations by environmental organizations and asset managers and advisors.
The pressure is working as intended. After Jordan launched his inquiry, many high-profile firms exited the Climate Action 100+ initiative. Coalitions of financial institutions that once committed to sustainable investing have collapsed. Several U.S. banks—including JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo—withdrew from an influential bankers' climate coalition, citing legal risk and political pressure. BlackRock and Vanguard pulled out of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, leading that group to halt operations.
'Our memberships in some of these organizations have caused confusion regarding BlackRock's practices and subjected us to legal inquiries from various public officials,' the company said in a letter to clients. 'BlackRock's active portfolio managers continue to assess material climate-related risks, alongside other investment risks, in delivering for clients.' The company, which declined our request to interview Fink, referred us to other official statements including one noting that 'BlackRock's sustainable and transition investing platform is driven by the needs of our clients and our continued investment conviction that the energy transition is a mega force shaping economies and markets.'
Other asset managers issued similar statements, noting that they would still offer green-investment options. But interest in ESG funds has declined substantially.
U.S. investment funds specializing in climate experienced net inflows of $70 billion in 2021—but by 2023, the tide had reversed, with money flowing out of the funds faster than it was coming in. Last year, net outflows amounted to $19.6 billion, with the trend continuing into the first quarter of 2025, according to Morningstar Analytics. Proxy initiatives from shareholders interested in sustainable investing have also declined, another casualty of the war against ESG.
'This has been a silent spring,' William Patterson, a former director for investment for the AFL-CIO who tracks climate-related shareholder action, told us. 'Investor initiatives on climate, which attained broad shareholder support in the past, are barely present' at investor meetings this year. Meanwhile, the number of anti-ESG proxy proposals more than quadrupled from 2021 to 2024. As of February, a fifth of all shareholder proposals submitted were filed by anti-ESG groups.
Despite the precipitous decline of ESG investing, its detractors are not ready to declare victory. Consumers' Research, for one, is committed to pressing on. 'ESG is in retreat, but it is not defeated yet,' Hild told us. 'We have a long way to go before people get rid of it.'
Proponents are not relenting either, and are looking forward to a moment when the political winds shift once more. 'What I hear, especially in the U.S., is twofold,' said Daniel Klier, the chief executive of the advisory firm South Pole. 'One message is 'Keep your head down,' but also that climate change will not go away—and we need to prepare for the decades to come and not just in the next four years.'
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Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue
Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue

San Francisco Chronicle​

timean hour ago

  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue

WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Angela, are longtime owners of a $1.5 million house in a gated community outside Dallas. In 2015, they snapped up a second home in Austin. Then another. The problem: Mortgages signed by the Paxtons contained inaccurate statements declaring that each of those three houses was their primary residence, enabling the now-estranged couple to improperly lock in low interest rates, according to an Associated Press review of public records. The lower rates will save the Paxtons tens of thousands of dollars in payments over the life of the loan, legal experts say. The records also revealed that the Paxtons collected an improper homestead tax break on two of those homes at the same time. It is a federal and state crime to knowingly make false statements on mortgage documents. It's also against the law in Texas to collect a homestead tax break on two separate properties. Mortgages have become political fodder The mortgage revelations are sure to become fodder in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in which Paxton is seeking to topple the incumbent, John Cornyn. The situation is further complicated by the Trump administration's pursuit of Democrats over similar issues. President Donald Trump has accused two of his political foes — Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James — of committing mortgage fraud in similar, though far less serious, circumstances. The Democrats have long been targets of Trump's ire for having led various investigations into his conduct as president and as a business executive. The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of James. It received a criminal referral for Schiff last week from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. James' attorney, Abbe Lowell, urged the Trump administration to investigate Paxton instead. 'If this administration was genuinely interested in rooting out fraud, it appears they should stop wasting their time on the baseless and discredited allegations against the New York Attorney General James and turn their attention to Texas,' said Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney whose past clients include Hunter Biden and Ivanka Trump. In a statement, Marisol Samayoa, a Schiff spokeswoman, blasted the criminal referral as 'a transparent attempt' by Trump 'to punish a perceived political foe who is committed to holding him to account.' It's unlikely that Paxton, a staunch Trump ally, will face the same federal scrutiny as James and Schiff. It's equally doubtful that Paxton will face much legal trouble in Texas: His office is one of the primary agencies tasked with investigating allegations of mortgage fraud. Ken Paxton and his spokesman did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Angela Paxton, who is a state senator in Texas, did not respond to requests made through her office. Three of the Paxtons' homes are each listed as a primary residence Documents reviewed by the AP show the Paxtons hold mortgages on three homes — one in suburban Dallas, two in Austin — that are each listed as their primary residence. The designation comes with a considerable financial upside. Interest rates on primary homes are significantly lower than those for mortgages on secondary homes or investment properties, saving buyers tens of thousands of dollars — if not more — over the life of a loan. Legal experts say it's possible that the Paxtons' lenders prepared the documents and that the couple did not carefully review them before signing. Even if that were the case, some legal experts say that Paxton, as an attorney and Texas' top law enforcement officer, ought to have known better. 'If he filled out lender documents knowing that they were false, then that is a false statement to obtain a mortgage on favorable terms. That would be actionable,' said Arif Lawji, a veteran Texas real estate attorney. Low interest rates are not the only perk the Paxtons secured, records show. In 2018, they simultaneously collected homestead property tax breaks on their family's home in suburban Dallas, as well as on a $1.1 million home in Austin, property records and tax statements show. A homestead tax break is a property tax reduction that a homeowner is only eligible to collect on one property that is also their primary home. The suburban Dallas home is where the Paxtons' family has long resided. It's where Ken and Angela Paxton are registered to vote. It is located in the state Senate district that Angela Paxton represents in the Legislature, which Ken Paxton held before his election in 2014 to be attorney general. Lawji said the Paxtons' simultaneous collection of two homestead tax breaks appears to be a more clearcut violation. That's because one must obtain a form and submit it to taxing authorities to receive such a tax break, making it an 'intentional act,' he said. The tax break was worth several thousand dollars, a fact that confounded real estate lawyers. 'Why would you try to do all of this,' Lawji said, 'when you are the attorney general? That's a bigger question to me than the money, when you are AG and have to enforce this law.' Schiff and James come under fire from GOP Paxton's real estate dealings are in many ways distinct from those of James and Schiff, the Democrats targeted by the Trump administration. The investigation of James centers on forms she signed in 2023 while helping a niece buy a home. One form stated that James intended to occupy the home as her 'principal residence.' But in other documents, the New York attorney general made clear she had no intention of living there. An email to the mortgage loan broker two weeks before she signed the documents stated the property 'WILL NOT be my primary residence.' For over a decade, Schiff owned homes in Maryland and California, the state he represents, that were both designated as a primary residence. Schiff corrected the issue in 2020 — a step Paxton has not taken. Paxton's real estate dealings are not the first time he has drawn scrutiny for his conduct while in office. He spent roughly 10 years under state indictment on securities charges while serving as the state's top law enforcement official. The charges were eventually dropped in 2024. Other alleged misdeeds led to his impeachment by Texas' GOP-controlled House in 2023. He was acquitted in a trial by the Senate. What ultimately unleashed the impeachment push was Paxton's relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who pleaded guilty this year to one count of making a false statement to a financial institution. In 2020, eight top aides in Paxton's office told the FBI they were concerned the state's top law enforcement official was misusing his office to help Paul.

Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue
Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue

Hamilton Spectator

timean hour ago

  • Hamilton Spectator

Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue

WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Angela, are longtime owners of a $1.5 million house in a gated community outside Dallas. In 2015, they snapped up a second home in Austin. Then another. The problem: Mortgages signed by the Paxtons contained inaccurate statements declaring that each of those three houses was their primary residence, enabling the now-estranged couple to improperly lock in low interest rates, according to an Associated Press review of public records. The lower rates will save the Paxtons tens of thousands of dollars in payments over the life of the loan, legal experts say. The records also revealed that the Paxtons collected an impermissible homestead tax break on two of those homes, and they have routinely flouted lending agreements on some of their other properties. It is a federal and state crime to knowingly make false statements on mortgage documents. It's also against the law in Texas to collect a homestead tax break on two separate properties. Violating the terms of a mortgage could allow lenders recourse to seek full payment of a loan, according to legal experts. Mortgages have become political fodder The mortgage revelations are likely to become fodder in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in which Paxton is seeking to topple the incumbent, John Cornyn. The situation is further complicated by the Trump administration's criminal pursuit of Democrats over similar issues. President Donald Trump has accused two of his political foes — Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James — of committing mortgage fraud, though legal experts say the circumstances are less serious. The Democrats have long been objects of Trump's ire for having led various investigations into his conduct as president and as a business executive. Paxton, himself, has weighed in on the investigation of James, saying he hoped authorities would look into her conduct. 'I hope that if she's done something wrong, I hope that she's actually held accountable,' he told supporters last month. The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of James, FBI director Kash Patel told Fox News in May. The department received a criminal referral for Schiff last week from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, its director William Pulte confirmed in a social media post. Neither the Justice Department nor the FHFA responded to an inquiry about whether they may investigate Paxton, too. James' attorney, Abbe Lowell, urged the Trump administration to investigate Paxton instead. 'If this administration was genuinely interested in rooting out fraud, it appears they should stop wasting their time on the baseless and discredited allegations against the New York Attorney General James and turn their attention to Texas,' said Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney whose past clients include Hunter Biden, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. In a statement, Marisol Samayoa, a Schiff spokeswoman, blasted the criminal referral as 'a transparent attempt' by Trump 'to punish a perceived political foe who is committed to holding him to account.' She added that Schiff disclosed to his lenders that he owned another home that was a principal residence and sought guidance from an attorney. It is unlikely that Paxton, a staunch Trump ally, will face the same federal scrutiny as James and Schiff. It's equally doubtful that Paxton will face much legal trouble in Texas: His office is one of the primary agencies tasked with investigating allegations of mortgage fraud. Ken Paxton and his spokesman did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Angela Paxton, who is a state senator in Texas, did not respond to requests made through her office. Three of the Paxtons' homes are each listed as a primary residence Documents reviewed by the AP show the Paxtons hold mortgages on three homes — one in suburban Dallas, two in Austin — that are each listed as their primary residence. The designation comes with a considerable financial upside. Interest rates on primary homes are significantly lower than those for mortgages on secondary homes or investment properties, saving buyers tens of thousands of dollars — if not more — over the life of a loan. Making a case against Paxton would require 'establishing both that Paxton was aware of the contents of the mortgage document, and also that he was actively aware at the time that he signed it that this was not going to be a primary residence,' said Jennifer E. Laurin, a professor at the University of Texas Law School in Austin. Legal experts say it is possible that the Paxtons' lenders prepared the documents and that the couple did not carefully review them before signing. Even if that were the case, some legal experts say that Paxton, as an attorney and Texas' top law enforcement officer, ought to have known better. 'If he filled out lender documents knowing that they were false, then that is a false statement to obtain a mortgage on favorable terms. That would be actionable,' said Arif Lawji, a veteran Texas real estate attorney. 'He's the chief enforcement officer. You have to be accountable for stuff you do that's wrong.' Paxton collected two 'homestead' tax breaks Low interest rates are not the only perk the Paxtons secured, records show. In 2018, they simultaneously collected homestead property tax breaks on their family's home in suburban Dallas, as well as on a $1.1 million home in Austin, property records and tax statements show. A homestead tax break is a property tax reduction that a homeowner is only eligible to collect on one property that is also their primary home. The suburban Dallas home is where the Paxtons' family has long resided. It's where Ken and Angela Paxton are registered to vote. It is located in the state Senate district that Angela Paxton represents in the Legislature, which Ken Paxton held before his election in 2014 to be attorney general. It's also where Ken Paxton's Senate campaign website until recently said he lived. Lawji said the Paxtons' simultaneous collection of two homestead tax breaks appears to be a more clearcut violation. That is because one must obtain a form and submit it to taxing authorities to receive such a tax break, making it an 'intentional act,' he said. The tax break was worth several thousand dollars, a fact that confounded real estate lawyers. 'Why would you try to do all of this,' Lawji said, 'when you are the attorney general? That's a bigger question to me than the money, when you are AG and have to enforce this law.' Paxton may have violated mortgage terms by renting properties Separately, land records indicate the Paxtons may have violated the terms of at least two mortgages on other houses they own. The mortgage on a home in College Station, Texas, says the property is for the Paxtons' exclusive use and cannot be rented out. Doing so would be grounds for terminating the mortgage, the document states. The home has been listed for rent on real estate websites on-and-off since at least 2022. Ken Paxton also holds a $1.2 million mortgage on a '5 bedroom luxury cabin' in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, that is for rent on Airbnb and other short-term rental sites, records show. The property's mortgage stipulates that it cannot be rented out. Representatives for Stifel Bank, Cornerstone Home Lending and Benchmark Mortgage, which issued the mortgages in question, did not respond to requests for comment. Schiff and James come under fire from GOP Paxton's real estate dealings are in many ways distinct from those of James and Schiff, the Democrats targeted by the Trump administration. The investigation of James centers on forms she signed in 2023 while helping a niece buy a home in Virginia. One form stated that James intended to occupy the home as her 'principal residence.' But in other documents, the New York attorney general made clear she had no intention of living there. An email to the mortgage loan broker two weeks before she signed the documents stated the property 'WILL NOT be my primary residence.' 'As I've said from the beginning, if prosecutors want to know that truth about Attorney General James' mortgage applications, we are ready and waiting with the facts,' said Lowell, James' attorney. For over a decade, Schiff owned homes in Maryland and California, the state he represents, that were both designated as his primary residence. In 2020, then a congressman, Schiff designated his Maryland property as a second home — a step Paxton has not taken. Paxton has faced legal and political challenges Paxton's real estate dealings are not the first time he has drawn scrutiny for his conduct while in office. Before his election as attorney general, Paxton, then a state senator, admitted in 2014 to violating Texas securities law and paid a fine. He spent roughly 10 years under state indictment on securities charges while serving as attorney general. The charges were eventually dropped in 2024. Other alleged misdeeds in office led to his impeachment by Texas' GOP-controlled House in 2023. He was acquitted in a trial by the Senate. Angela Paxton did not cast a vote in his impeachment trial and recently filed for divorce, citing Ken Paxton's infidelity and other 'recent discoveries.' She did not elaborate. What ultimately unleashed the impeachment push was Paxton's relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who pleaded guilty this year to one count of making a false statement to a financial institution. In 2020, eight top aides in Paxton's office told the FBI they were concerned the state's top law enforcement official was misusing his office to help Paul over the developer's unproven claims about an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of his properties. The House impeachment managers accused Paxton of attempting to interfere in foreclosure lawsuits and issuing legal opinions to benefit Paul. They also alleged that Paul employed a woman with whom Paxton had an affair in exchange for legal help and that the developer paid for expensive renovations to the attorney general's home in Austin. That would be the same house that he declared in mortgage documents was his third primary residence. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. 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Exxon Mobil (XOM) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing
Exxon Mobil (XOM) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing

Yahoo

time5 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Exxon Mobil (XOM) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing

Exxon Mobil (XOM) closed the most recent trading day at $109.85, moving +1.21% from the previous trading session. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.78%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.61%. Heading into today, shares of the oil and natural gas company had gained 0.18% over the past month, outpacing the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 3.19% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 5.88%. The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Exxon Mobil in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on August 1, 2025. In that report, analysts expect Exxon Mobil to post earnings of $1.49 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 30.37%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $82.84 billion, indicating a 10.98% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year. For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.57 per share and a revenue of $334.4 billion, representing changes of -15.66% and -4.34%, respectively, from the prior year. Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Exxon Mobil. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook. Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system. Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 7.51% higher within the past month. Exxon Mobil is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). With respect to valuation, Exxon Mobil is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.53. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 11.25. It is also worth noting that XOM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.02. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.99 at yesterday's closing price. The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 188, this industry ranks in the bottom 24% of all industries, numbering over 250. The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1. Ensure to harness to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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