CSQ - Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund

What this means for you

None of the investors we follow has reported owning 5% or more of this fund. That is the normal state for most closed-end funds.

Nothing is required of you. If that changes, the notice appears here within a day of being filed with the regulator.

Email me if this changes

What happened, and when

1. Sept 11, 2026

   Equitable Holdings now owns 19.9% of the fund's preferred shares, not the common shares most holders own.

   Original document →

2. Sept 8, 2026

   BlackRock Portfolio Management LLC now owns 36.4% of the fund's preferred shares, not the common shares most holders own.

   Original document →

3. Sept 8, 2026

   MetLife Investment Management, LLC sold down below 5% of the fund's preferred shares and stopped reporting.

   Original document →

4. Sept 8, 2026

   The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company now owns 10.6% of the fund's preferred shares, not the common shares most holders own.

   Original document →

5. July 28, 2026

   Apollo Management Holdings GP, LLC now owns 15.2% of the fund's preferred shares, not the common shares most holders own.

   Original document →

About this fund

• Run by Calamos Advisors LLC. Part of the Calamos Family of Funds fund family. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• Size: about $3.57 billion of holdings, as of July 31, 2026. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Borrowing: the fund borrows about 39% on top of its own money, as of July 31, 2026. Borrowed money makes gains and losses bigger. About 14% of that is money the fund has borrowed by selling preferred shares. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• The fund's own example of what borrowing does: in a year in which the holdings returned -10%, a share would return about -16%; at +10%, about +12.3%. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs: 1.4% a year in management fees; 3.7% a year in total, including interest on borrowed money. Fiscal year ended Oct 31, 2025. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Among the 53 funds we follow that invest in shares, 50 charge a lower management fee and 51 charge less in total, at their last yearly reports. Both numbers are measured against the fund's own money, not the money it borrows on top, so a fund that borrows more shows higher costs on both counts.
• The fund's own cost example: $1,000 invested costs about $41 in the first year and about $428 over 10 years, assuming the holdings return 5% a year. As of Oct 31, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Payouts: last fiscal year (ended Oct 31, 2025) the fund paid $1.14 a share. $0.76 of that was income; $0.38 came from gains. Most funds announce their monthly or quarterly payout on their own website, not in a filing with the regulator, so a cut or a raise there does not show up here until the next yearly report. A few funds do file a notice about a fixed payout; those appear under What happened, and when. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Value of holdings per share at the last fiscal year end (Oct 31, 2025): $20.83. The shares traded at $19.30, about 7.4% below that. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Over the last two years the gap (a "discount" when the price is below the value) ranged from 5.8% below to 3.9% above. As of Oct 31, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• How the holdings did: up 4.8% over the last three months we have (May-July 2026), before the share price is taken into account. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• First reported to the regulator in 2004.

How this has changed

• Payouts per share: $1.14 in the fiscal year ended Oct 31, 2025; $1.14 in the year ended Oct 31, 2024; $1.14 in the year ended Oct 31, 2023.As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Of that, your own money back rather than income: none in the year ended Oct 31, 2025; $0.51 in the year ended Oct 31, 2024; none in the year ended Oct 31, 2023.As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs, including interest on borrowed money: 3.98% a year in the fiscal year ended Oct 31, 2025; 4.52% a year in the year ended Oct 31, 2024; 4.4% a year in the year ended Oct 31, 2023.As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Size of the holdings: about $3.34 billion at Oct 31, 2025; $2.82 billion at Oct 31, 2024; $2.15 billion at Oct 31, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Oct 31, 2025 →, Oct 31, 2024 →, Oct 31, 2023 →.
• Borrowing: about 38% on top of its own money at Oct 31, 2025; 38% at Oct 31, 2024; 35% at Oct 31, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Oct 31, 2025 →, Oct 31, 2024 →, Oct 31, 2023 →.

What these lines mean: a payout that is your own money back, what a fund costs, borrowing.

What a holder made

• The year ended Oct 31, 2025: the shares returned +11.2%, counting payouts; the holdings +23.5%. The holdings figure is what the fund's investments earned, before the share price is taken into account. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Oct 31, 2024: the shares returned +27.3%, counting payouts; the holdings +24.3%. As of Oct 31, 2024, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Oct 31, 2023: the shares returned +3.3%, counting payouts; the holdings -2.3%. As of Oct 31, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Oct 31, 2022: the shares returned -25.1%, counting payouts; the holdings -27.3%. As of Oct 31, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Oct 31, 2021: the shares returned +56.6%, counting payouts; the holdings +33.2%. As of Oct 31, 2021, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Those five years together: the shares returned +71.5%. $10,000 of shares bought at the start (Nov 1, 2020) would have become about $17,100 by Oct 31, 2025, with every payout counted, before tax. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The holdings over the last twelve months we have, to July 31, 2026: +17.9%. The quarterly reports carry no share price, so this is the holdings alone. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Of the 45 funds that invest in shares with a fiscal year ending within six months of this one, 36 reported a higher share return for that year and 8 a lower one. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• A past year says nothing about the next one. All figures are the fund's own, from its reports to the regulator.

Why the shares and the holdings can differ: the gap between price and value. Why payouts count: a payout that is your own money back.

What the fund holds

Mostly shares (71%), the rest bonds, preferred shares and loans. About 95% issued in the U.S.

The fund also sells options on its holdings to raise income.

1. Apple - 7.5%
2. Nvidia - 7.2%
3. Alphabet - 6.2%
4. Microsoft - 5.6%
5. Amazon.com - 4.9%
6. Broadcom - 2.9%
7. Meta Platforms - 2.2%
8. Eli Lilly & - 1.9%
9. JPMorgan Chase & - 1.9%
10. Micron Technology - 1.7%

As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →