Cutting Dividends
Here is one company’s excuse for halting their remaining 2007 dividend payments:
Paying a stock dividend results in a large transfer of retained earnings into common stock, as well as higher Nasdaq listing fees and one-time expenses, said Michael M. Magee, president and chief executive, in a release.
That is Independent Bank’s CEO. The market reacted as one would expect:
Shares fell $1.15, or 9.6 percent, to $10.86 Friday after hitting a new year-low of $10.83 earlier in the session. Shares have been trading between $11.98 and $25.76 in the past 12 months.