Offshore Driller Noble Further Slashes Dividend
April 22 2016 - 12:50PM
Dow Jones News
Offshore driller Noble Corp. further slashed its quarterly
payout, taking it down Friday to 2 cents a share from 15 cents.
Like many companies across the energy patch battered by sharply
lower oil prices, London-based Noble has shaved its dividend in an
effort to shore up cash.
The latest reduction follows the company's move in October to
take the quarterly dividend down to 15 cents from 37.5 cents. At
the time, the cut was Noble's first since mid-2012.
On Friday, Chief Executive David Williams said the move was a
strategic adjustment "as we guide the company through this historic
downturn."
The reduction is effective for the dividend payable to
shareholders of record May 2, payable May 9.
Noble is the latest company tied to the energy sector to either
cut or suspend its dividend in response to the profit-eating drop
in energy prices. Companies including NRG Energy Inc., Consol
Energy Inc. and Devon Energy Corp. recently reduced their
dividends, with Devon also slashing a fifth of its workforce.
Energy companies in the S&P 500 cut about $6.2 billion in
dividends last year, the highest amount among companies in a single
sector in the S&P 500 to have reduced their dividend in
2015.
Shares in Noble rose 7.8% Friday, helped by a 2.4% jump in
crude-oil prices. Over the past 12 months, the stock has lost 25%
of its value.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 22, 2016 12:35 ET (16:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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