Can a cash reward of sorts help Entercom Communications in its quest to energize its sagging stock price?
The radio pure-play’s board of directors on Tuesday (2/26) gave the green light to a quarterly dividend on the company’s stock of $0.09 per share.
The dividend is payable on March 28 to shareholders of record as of market close on March 14.
The decision to authorize the dividend comes during another difficult day for ETM on the New York Stock Exchange. At 10am, Entercom shares plunged. At 2pm, ETM was down 41 cents to $6.85 on heavy volume of 2.02 million shares; average volume is 958,601 shares.
At 12:12pm, shares even fell as low as $6.79, before moderating slightly.
Then, at the Closing Bell, ETM landed with a thud, down 6.9% to $6.76.
It’s a sign that investors are less than pleased with Entercom’s Q4 and full-year 2018 results, which were largely positive — despite the fact that automotive is flat and the company’s strongest ad-revenue markets aren’t New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, perhaps indicative of an industry problem rather than a company issue.
Based on the current trading trajectory, Entercom shares are poised to wipe out gains seen since February 8 — and dip to levels largely seen across Q4, leading the company to take an impairment charge in response to the company’s stock decline during the period.
