Now that all of the stocks I follow for this site have released earnings and declared distributions for the 1st quarter of 2009 I thought it would be interesting to review which shipping companies have paid distributions and how much investors would have earned if they had been holding the stocks since the first of the year. Of the 42 exchange traded shipping stocks I follow, 25 paid some level of distribution in the 1st half of 2009. Two only paid a single dividend with one of those officially suspending future payouts.
To stretch this out and give me something to write about for a few days I am going the write about these stocks in groups of 5. I will start with the lowest dividend returns for the half and work up the the largest cash payout.
Here are the bottom 5 payors on my list. The stocks are listed in this order: Company and stock symbol, dividend earned on $1000 invested on 1/1/2009 (divide by 5 to get an annualized percentage) and the share price change since the beginning of the year.
Tanker companies are the bulk of this group with only Paragon as a bulk shipper. FRO and VLCCF typically payout a high percentage of the free cash flow they earn in the tanker spot market. That market has been very depressed for the last 5 months or so. Knightsbridge paid only a single dividend during the 1st half of 2009 and elected not to make a payout after 1st quarter earnings were very low. OSG and TK have more stable revenues and payout a conservative portion of earnings.
Paragon Shipping was paying 50¢ per share until the dry bulk market and values collapsed. Instead of suspending the dividend like many others in the sector, Paragon’s management elected to keep paying a dividend a 5¢ per share.
Remenber whe looking at dividends from shipping companies that the different companies in the sector can have significantly different payout policies. Some have payouts that vary significantly from quarter to quarter and others strive for a more stable payout policy. Make sure you know what you are getting before investing in one of these companies.
Shipping stocks dividends earned 1st half of 2009
Now that all of the stocks I follow for this site have released earnings and declared distributions for the 1st quarter of 2009 I thought it would be interesting to review which shipping companies have paid distributions and how much investors would have earned if they had been holding the stocks since the first of the year. Of the 42 exchange traded shipping stocks I follow, 25 paid some level of distribution in the 1st half of 2009. Two only paid a single dividend with one of those officially suspending future payouts.
To stretch this out and give me something to write about for a few days I am going the write about these stocks in groups of 5. I will start with the lowest dividend returns for the half and work up the the largest cash payout.
Here are the bottom 5 payors on my list. The stocks are listed in this order: Company and stock symbol, dividend earned on $1000 invested on 1/1/2009 (divide by 5 to get an annualized percentage) and the share price change since the beginning of the year.
Tanker companies are the bulk of this group with only Paragon as a bulk shipper. FRO and VLCCF typically payout a high percentage of the free cash flow they earn in the tanker spot market. That market has been very depressed for the last 5 months or so. Knightsbridge paid only a single dividend during the 1st half of 2009 and elected not to make a payout after 1st quarter earnings were very low. OSG and TK have more stable revenues and payout a conservative portion of earnings.
Paragon Shipping was paying 50¢ per share until the dry bulk market and values collapsed. Instead of suspending the dividend like many others in the sector, Paragon’s management elected to keep paying a dividend a 5¢ per share.
Remenber whe looking at dividends from shipping companies that the different companies in the sector can have significantly different payout policies. Some have payouts that vary significantly from quarter to quarter and others strive for a more stable payout policy. Make sure you know what you are getting before investing in one of these companies.