Current apc Stock Info

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (ticker: APC; www.anadarko.com) announced on February 9, 2016, that the board of directors had approved a reduction in the company’s common stock dividend. The new quarterly dividend was announced as $0.05 per share payable March 23, 2016, which is an 81.5% reduction from the previous of dividend of $0.27 per share that was paid on December 23, 2015.

During Anadarko’s fourth quarter conference call, the company indicated that it was planning to revisit the dividend payment with the board. Given the current commodity price environment, and the associated depletion in most company’s stock prices, Anadarko’s CFO and Executive Vice President of Finance, Robert Gwin said that 3% was “a bit higher than we would normally target for the dividend. I don’t think that [eliminating the dividend is] an appropriate step, but the current yield is certainly higher than we would have targeted in a much higher stock price environment.”

The reduction in dividend is expected to save Anadarko roughly $450 million annually that can be used for current operations and financial flexibility.

Not the First

In the last two months, several E&P operators have reduced their dividend payments in order to save cash and strengthen their financial positions. Chesapeake Energy, Conoco Phillips, Encana Corp, and Noble Energy have all reduced or suspended their dividends during the period. Chesapeake suspended dividend payments, Conoco Phillips reduced its dividend by 66% to $0.25 per share from $0.74 per share, Encana’s reduction was 79% to $0.06 per share from $0.28 per share, and Noble reduced its dividend payments 44% to $0.10 per share from $0.18 per share.

  Old Dividend ($/Share) New Dividend ($/Share) Reduction %
Anadarko Petroleum $0.27 $0.05 82%
Conoco Phillips $0.74 $0.25 66%
Encana Corp $0.28 $0.06 79%
Noble Energy $0.18 $0.10 44%

 

It is expected that other dividend-paying companies in the hard hit E&P segment will follow suit in the near future.


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