On January 26, 2026, Shaker Financial Services, LLC disclosed in an SEC filing that it sold 171,140 shares of Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund (CSQ +0.24%), an estimated $3.26 million trade based on quarterly average pricing.
What Happened
In a filing dated January 26, 2026, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC filing), Shaker Financial Services, LLC reported selling 171,140 shares of Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund during the fourth quarter. The estimated value of the shares sold was $3.26 million, calculated using the average unadjusted closing price for the quarter. The position’s quarter-end value declined by $3.29 million, reflecting both share sales and price changes.
What Else to Know
After this sale, CSQ represents 2.0% of Shaker Financial Services, LLC’s 13F reportable assets.
Top five holdings post-filing:
- NYSE: JCE: $8,937,829 (2.8% of AUM)
- NYSE: RMT: $8,653,584 (2.7% of AUM)
- NYSE: ASG: $8,353,882 (2.6% of AUM)
- NYSE: ETB: $7,549,702 (2.4% of AUM)
- NYSE: USA: $6,926,563 (2.2% of AUM)
As of January 23, 2026, shares of CSQ were priced at $19.35, up 12.17% over the past year, underperforming the S&P 500 by 0.85 percentage points.
CSQ’s dividend yield was 6.45% as of January 26, 2026.
Fund Overview
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Dividend Yield | 6.45% |
| Price (as of market close 1/23/26) | $19.35 |
Fund Snapshot
- Offers a diversified portfolio of public equities, convertible securities, preferred stocks, and high yield corporate bonds.
- Generates revenue through investment income and capital appreciation by actively managing a balanced portfolio using both fundamental and quantitative analysis.
- Targets institutional and individual investors seeking total return through a mix of equity and fixed income exposure.
Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund is a closed-end balanced fund managed by Calamos Advisors LLC, focusing on diversified investments across U.S. equity and fixed income markets. The fund employs a combination of bottom-up and top-down security selection to optimize risk-adjusted returns.
What This Transaction Means For Investors
Shaker Financial Services, a Virginia-based independent investment advisor, recently sold approximately $3.3 million worth of Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund (CSQ) during the fourth quarter (the three months ending on Dec. 31, 2025). Here’s the big takeaway for average investors.
To start, this isn’t a transaction that retail investors can glean much information from. CSQ is a closed-end, actively-managed fund, and Shaker Financial owns many such funds. Consequently, it’s very difficult to determine what Shaker is up to with this move.
At any rate, it’s worth examining CSQ’s performance history to see if this fund is one that retail investors should investigate further. Over the last five years, the fund has generated a total return of 77%, equating to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.1%. The S&P 500, by comparison, has generated a total return of 94% over the same period, with a CAGR of 14.2%.
To sum up, this institutional transaction is of limited utility to average investors. What’s more, CSQ, despite being actively-managed, has failed to match the performance of the S&P 500 over the last five years.
