GMR ex-dividend on 3/26 (34%, special)
General Maritime, an oil shipping company, will pay a special dividend of $15.00 on March 23 to holders as of Monday, March 26. That’s 33.8% of the share price of $44. About 10 percent of the special dividend will be taxed as earning dividend, with the rest as Return of Capital. General Maritime plans to finance the payout with debt, which would raise its interest expense and could reduce annual earnings by up to 20 percent, or 80 cents per share. GMR will also pay a regular quarterly dividend of $0.62 per share ex-dividend on March 7.
March 5th, 2007 at 11:05 am
The information here seems to be incorrect based SEC documents and the company’s own Website. All records I can find say date of record is March 9, 2006 with a payable date of March 26, 2007….
March 5th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
NEW YORK, March 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — General Maritime Corporation (NYSE: GMR - News) today announced the New York Stock Exchange has notified the Company that the ex-dividend date for both its recently declared special cash dividend and fourth quarter 2006 dividend will be March 26, 2007.
It’s those specials that fool people every time. X after payment LOL.
March 5th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Info here:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Symbol=US:GMR&Feed=PR&Date=20070301&ID=6559002
March 5th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Here’s another 4 ya:
Ticker symbol: DF
Dean Foods Company Announces Special Cash Dividend; Announces Debt Financing
March 02, 2007 Dean Foods Company announced that its plan to return $15.00 per share to shareholders through a one-time special cash dividend totaling approximately $2 billion. The special dividend will be financed by a recapitalization of the Company’s balance sheet through $4.8 billion in new senior secured credit facilities. The special dividend declared by the Company is payable on April 2, 2007, to shareholders of record as of March 27, 2007. The total aggregate size of the dividend will depend upon the number of shares outstanding on the March 27, 2007 record date. The Company will distribute $15.00 per share to shareholders as of the record date. The new facility is planned to consist of a combination of a $1.5 billion five-year senior secured revolving credit facility, a $1.5 billion five-year senior secured term loan A, and a $1.8 billion seven-year senior secured term loan B. The Company will also be replacing its existing receivables facility with a new secured $500 million facility.
Current quote: $46.67
March 6th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Is it a new trend of companies to take on big debt to pay big special dividends? I sure don’t like it much as a longer term investors…
March 7th, 2007 at 3:43 am
Private equity groups are running amuck buying every company they can with any sizable cash on their balance sheets. THe special dividend is really a “poison pill” to prevent the private equity predators from buying up the stock, distributing the excess cash to themselves, and paying off the acquisition debt with operating revenues out of the takeover target’s cash flow. By the way, the takeover target corporate executives usually find themselves “on the street” or with significantly less operating discretion after the private equity people or corporate raiders get done with the raid.
The special dividend lets current shareholders win because the company disgorges itself of excess profits, distributing them to shareholders, and if operating properly the companies revenue stream allows them to pay off the extra debt incurred, in excess of the cash on hand used to pay the dividend.
Of course, the current company execs and directors win real big because they also get the special dividend for every share they probably paid very little for. They also get to keep their jobs and get their conscious assuaged because they saved the company from the “big bad wolf” and paid the shareholders some dough instead of going out and buying a fleet of corporate jets with the excess cash on hand.
The special dividend is a good thing if the company is making enough to sustain itself after giving away it’s cash and taking on additional debt. But, lookout for the weaklings that are marginal earners that take on debt so the execs can legally pay themselves (via the special dividend) a bonus, but doom the company because it doesn’t earn enough to operate & payoff the extra debt…..and the shares head South and the execs take their cash and ride off into the sunset looking for a new company to wreck.
March 8th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Someone suggested buying puts on HMA a couple weeks ago. You need to bear in mind that even though the stock price will go down after these big dividend payouts, the options on these stocks are usually not standard and requires a delivery of stock which erases the gain. I still haven’t found a good source for information ahead of time about this type of option except you can pretty well count on it if there is a special dividend.
March 8th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Question: If volume spikes on the decreased stock price after one of these payouts does it indicate stockholder’s money going back in?
March 9th, 2007 at 6:51 am
called the company and they clarified: you have to be an owner on the 26th…so a purchaser on the 23rd
March 9th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Have you seen the chart of GMR? Its climbing a wall at 44.62 and may go even higher. But it will drop again to the 30s level leaving stock holders on an ISLAND REVERSAL top! The stock will than have to labor back up to those levels just to get you even and sound. How long that may take is your level of risk tolerance and adventurism. It may never happen or take a year or months.
A great example of this is EMMIS that still have to get back since the 11/24/2006 drop when it gave a $4.00 divident.
March 18th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Re slimetar’s comment of March 9 that once the $15.00 dividend is paid and the stock price drops from $44.62 to $29.62, the stock will have to “labor back up to those levels just to get you even”,
I read the situation very differently. If you get paid $15.00 per share and the stock drops
the same amount per share, you break even. If the stock rises, say, $1.00 from $29.62 to $30.62 you have made a profit of $1.00 per share. The risk would be if the stock price continued to fall
from the post-dividend level of $29.62. Am I missing something here?
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Yes, What you are missing is that you have to pay tax on $15 per share at 15%. That has to part of your calculation
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:43 am
According the press releases from today about the credit drawdown to pay the special dividend, 3/9/07 is still claimed as the record date. What recourse is there for shareholders who bought thinking it was 3/26 when 3/9 is the correct date?