Investment in Securities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Investment in Securities [Abstract]

Investment in Securities

B.  Investments in Securities

Investments in securities at December 31, 2012 and 2011 consisted of the following:

	2012				2011
	Cost		Fair Value		Cost		Fair Value
(In thousands)
Trading securities:
Government obligations	$	42,973	$	42,989	$	42,124	$	42,126
Common stocks		125,697		138,478		153,294		159,314
Mutual funds		1,072		1,484		1,084		1,307
Other investments		328		630		466		399
Total trading securities		170,070		183,581		196,968		203,146
Available for sale securities:
Common stocks		14,822		33,560		16,487		33,282
Mutual funds		1,105		1,702		1,362		1,905
Total available for sale securities		15,927		35,262		17,849		35,187
Total investments in securities	$	185,997	$	218,843	$	214,817	$	238,333

Securities sold, not yet purchased at December 31, 2012 and 2011 consisted of the following:

	2012				2011
	Cost		Fair Value		Cost		Fair Value
(In thousands)
Trading securities:
Common stocks	$	2,593	$	2,867	$	5,271	$	5,415
Other		184		269		49		73
Total securities sold, not yet purchased	$	2,777	$	3,136	$	5,320	$	5,488

Investments in sponsored registered investment companies at December 31, 2012 and 2011 consisted of the following:

	2012				2011
	Cost		Fair Value		Cost		Fair Value
(In thousands)
Trading securities:
Mutual funds	$	19	$	20	$	15	$	18
Total trading securities		19		20		15		18
Available for sale securities:
Closed-end funds		35,868		58,511		37,104		55,855
Mutual funds		2,055		3,341		2,213		3,341
Total available for sale securities		37,923		61,852		39,317		59,196
Total investments in sponsored
registered investment companies	$	37,942	$	61,872	$	39,332	$	59,214

The following is a summary of the cost, gross unrealized gains, gross unrealized losses and fair value of available for sale investments as of December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011:

	December 31, 2012
			Gross		Gross
			Unrealized		Unrealized			Fair
	Cost		Gains		Losses			Value
	(In thousands)
Common stocks	$	14,822	$	18,738	$	-		$	33,560
Closed-end Funds		35,868		22,645		(2	)		58,511
Mutual funds		3,160		1,883		-			5,043
Total available for sale securities	$	53,850	$	43,266	$	(2	)	$	97,114
	December 31, 2011
			Gross		Gross
			Unrealized		Unrealized			Fair
	Cost		Gains		Losses			Value
	(In thousands)
Common stocks	$	16,487	$	16,795	$	-		$	33,282
Closed-end Funds		37,104		18,779		(28	)		55,855
Mutual funds		3,575		1,671		-			5,246
Total available for sale securities	$	57,166	$	37,245	$	(28	)	$	94,383

Increases in unrealized gains, net of taxes, for AFS securities for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2010 of $3.8 million and $6.3 million have been included in other comprehensive income at December 31, 2012 and 2010, respectively.  Increases in unrealized losses, net of taxes, for AFS securities for the year ended December 31, 2011 of $2.9 million have been included in other comprehensive income at December 31, 2011.  Return of capital on available for sale securities were $2.5 million, $2.3 million and $3.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.  Proceeds from sales of investments available for sale were approximately $3.2 million, $6.1 million and $2.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.  For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, gross gains on the sale of investments available for sale amounted to $1.6 million, $772,000 and $29,000, respectively, and were reclassed from other comprehensive income into the consolidated statements of income.  There were no losses on the sale of investments available for sale for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010.  The basis on which the cost of a security sold is determined is specific identification.  Accumulated other comprehensive income on the consolidated statements of equity is primarily comprised of unrealized gains/losses, net of taxes, for AFS securities.

GBL has an established accounting policy and methodology to determine other-than-temporary impairment.  Under this policy, available for sale securities are evaluated for other than temporary impairments and any impairment charges are recorded in net gain/(loss) from investments on the consolidated statements of income.  Management reviews all available for sale securities whose cost exceeds their market value to determine if the impairment is other than temporary.  Management uses qualitative factors such as diversification of the investment, the amount of time that the investment has been impaired and the severity of the decline in determining whether the impairment is other than temporary.  

Investments classified as available for sale that are in an unrealized loss position for which other-than-temporary impairment has not been recognized consisted of the following:

	December 31, 2012							December 31, 2011
			Unrealized							Unrealized
	Cost		Losses			Fair Value		Cost		Losses			Fair Value
(in thousands)
Mutual Funds	$	73	$	(2	)	$	71	$	101	$	(28	)	$	73

At December 31, 2012 and 2011, there was one holding in a loss position which was not deemed to be other-than-temporarily impaired due to the length of time that it had been in a loss position and because it passed scrutiny in our evaluation of issuer-specific and industry-specific considerations.  In this specific instance, the investment at December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011 was a closed-end fund with diversified holdings across multiple companies and across multiple industries.  The one holding was impaired for one and seven consecutive months, respectively.  The value of this holding at December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011 was $0.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively.

For the year ended December 31, 2012, there was $20,000 of losses on available for sale securities deemed to be other than temporary.  For the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, there were no losses on available for sale securities deemed to be other than temporary.