Cleco – CNL – Raises its quarterly dividend for fourth time since 2010
Cleco Corporation (NYSE: CNL) announced that its board of directors voted to raise the quarterly dividend from $0.3125 per share to $0.3375 per share on its common stock for the Aug. 15, 2012, payment.
This new amount represents an eight percent increase in the current quarterly dividend and is CNL’s fourth dividend increase in the past three years. The new dividend amount on an annualized basis totals $1.35 per share.
“We continue to execute our strategy and grow our core business, Cleco Power, while reducing risk across the company,” said Bruce Williamson, president and CEO. ”This dividend increase reflects our confidence in the business and the strength of our financial condition. It also underscores our commitment to a long-term dividend payout ratio between 50 percent and 60 percent of sustainable earnings.”
CNL also recently enhanced its Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) which allows dividends on its common stock to be reinvested in additional shares of common stock at market price. Under the enhanced DRIP, there are no administrative fees to purchase stock and reinvest dividends.
About Cleco Corporation – CNL
Cleco Corporation (CNL) is a regional energy company headquartered in Pineville, La. CNL owns a regulated electric utility company, Cleco Power LLC, which owns nine generating units with a total nameplate capacity of 2,524 megawatts and serves approximately 281,000 customers in Louisiana through its retail business and 10 communities across Louisiana and Mississippi through wholesale power contracts. Cleco Corporation also owns a wholesale energy business, Cleco Midstream Resources LLC, which owns two natural gas-fired generating units with a total nameplate capacity of 775 megawatts.
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Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.
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