Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund

JCE

Market cap $268M

Overview Fund Activity

15.79 USD

-0.08

0.5%

At close Updated Sep 12, 4:00 PM EDT

1 day

-0.5%

5 days

-0.25%

1 month

0.96%

3 months

3.34%

6 months

6.69%

Year to date

1.48%

1 year

3.2%

5 years

24.23%

10 years

15.34%

About: Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund is a diversified closed-end management investment company. Its investment objective is to provide an attractive level of total return, through long-term capital appreciation and through income and gains. The Fund invests in a portfolio of actively managed large-capitalization U.S. common stocks, using the sub-adviser's proprietary quantitative process designed to provide the potential for long-term outperformance. Additionally, the Fund seeks to reduce the volatility of its returns relative to the returns of the Equity Portfolio over extended periods by writing (selling) index call options and/or call options on custom baskets of securities.

Financials Asset Management

0

Funds holding %

of 7,462 funds

–

Analysts bullish %

Fund manager confidence

Based on 2025 Q2 regulatory disclosures by fund managers ($100M+ AUM)

73% more repeat investments, than reductions

Existing positions increased: 19 | Existing positions reduced: 11

50% more first-time investments, than exits

New positions opened: 3 | Existing positions closed: 2

11% more capital invested

Capital invested by funds: $55.9M [Q1] → $61.9M (+$5.99M) [Q2]

2% more funds holding

Funds holding: 44 [Q1] → 45 (+1) [Q2]

0.92% more ownership

Funds ownership: 22.68% [Q1] → 23.6% (+0.92%) [Q2]

0% more funds holding in top 10

Funds holding in top 10: 2 [Q1] → 2 (+0) [Q2]

See Fund Rankings

Financial journalist opinion

JCE: Providing Strong Returns And Delivering An 8.26% Distribution Yield

JCE has outperformed the S&P 500 since our prior update, despite a call-writing strategy that can often limit upside participation in bull markets. JCE's discount remains shallow, aligning with historical averages and limiting its current appeal despite strong results. The fund offers an attractive 8.26% yield, but distribution tax characterizations can be volatile, making it less ideal for taxable accounts.

JCE: Providing Strong Returns And Delivering An 8.26% Distribution Yield

JCE: Unlikely To Provide Alpha But Still An Attractive Income Fund

Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund offers an 8.2% yield via option writing on large-cap growth stocks, but caps upside potential and underperforms total return ETFs like QQQ. The fund is best suited for income-focused investors, not those seeking long-term capital appreciation or alpha versus major indexes. JCE's distributions are consistent and well-covered by net realized gains, but are tax-inefficient, making them better suited for tax-advantaged accounts.

JCE: Unlikely To Provide Alpha But Still An Attractive Income Fund

JCE: Difficult To Recommend This Fund At The Current Price

The Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund offers an attractive 8.82% yield, appealing to income-seeking investors despite underperforming peers in total returns over the past decade. The fund employs a covered call-writing strategy, which may limit upside during bull markets but provides a synthetic yield from its equity portfolio. A high allocation to mega-cap tech stocks, which have underperformed year-to-date, poses risks to the fund's near-term performance and distribution sustainability.

JCE: Difficult To Recommend This Fund At The Current Price

JCE: Decent Income Vs Questionable Risk-Return Attribution

The Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund is a closed-end fund using an active return strategy overlayed with an option-writing program. Despite aiming to reduce volatility while generating excess returns, JCE's risk-return attribution metrics are sub-optimal relative to the S&P 500, raising concerns about its strategy's alignment. Although we are concerned by its risk-return metrics, JCE's distribution profile seems compelling, with an average yield exceeding 7.66% since 2015 and potential tax benefits.

JCE: Decent Income Vs Questionable Risk-Return Attribution

JCE: 5 Reasons Why I Would Not Hold This CEF

The Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund is a closed-end fund that employs a covered call selling strategy. The fund is rated a Hold by most Seeking Alpha analysts, but I disagree with this view. JCE has delivered disappointing historical risk-adjusted performance relative to passive investment options.

JCE: 5 Reasons Why I Would Not Hold This CEF

24/7 Wall Street

Need $15,000 Passive Income? Buy These Dividend Stocks

24/7 Wall Street Insights Closed-End Mutual Funds (CEF) trade like stocks but provide comparable performance to their Open-End Mutual Fund cousins and may have additional advantages.

Need $15,000 Passive Income? Buy These Dividend Stocks

JCE: 3 Reasons We're Avoiding This Equity CEF

The Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund invests in large cap U.S. stocks while selling call options to manage risk. The fund has delivered a positive return in 2024, but historically underperforms benchmarks. We offer our opinion of the fund in the context of its stated strategy.

24/7 Wall Street

Want $2000 In Passive Income? Invest $1000 Into These Dividend Stocks

Naturally, one should monitor their portfolio on a regular basis in case there are any news events or market circumstances that can affect a stock price or its dividend adversely.

Six Nuveen Closed-End Funds Announce Availability of 19(a) Notices

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 19(a) distribution notices for six Nuveen closed-end funds are now available. These informational notices provide further details on the sources of the funds' regular quarterly distributions and follows the most recent quarterly distribution announcements. The full text of these notices is available below or on the Nuveen website via Distribution Source Estimates. Important Information Regarding Distributions March 28, 2024: THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOS.

Six Nuveen Closed-End Funds Announce Availability of 19(a) Notices

Nuveen Closed-End Funds Declare Distributions

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Several Nuveen closed-end funds have declared distributions. These funds represent investment strategies for investors seeking diversified sources of cash flow to prepare for and sustain their retirement income needs. For further information regarding fund distributions, including earnings, undistributed net investment income, and notices, please visit www.nuveen.com/cef. Additionally, several leveraged municipal closed-end funds have announced distribution rate incre.

Nuveen Closed-End Funds Declare Distributions

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