Office REIT's Stock Tanks After Cutting Dividend To 1 Cent
Shares of real estate investment trust Office Properties Income Trust lost more than 40% of their value in the aftermath of announcing that it would reduce its shareholder dividend to pennies.
The REIT has slashed its quarterly dividend to 1 cent per share in an effort to shore up liquidity, MarketWatch reported. Its dividend was 55 cents per share as recently as the first quarter of 2023.
“Given the deterioration in market conditions since we last addressed our dividend rate in the first half of 2023, we believe it is prudent to further reduce the dividend to increase our liquidity and financial flexibility when addressing future leasing costs, capital expenditures and debt maturities,” OPI Chief Operating Officer Yael Duffy said in a statement.
The move will increase OPI’s liquidity by roughly $47M per year, the company said. But the announcement caused the company's stock price to tank by more than 41% over a single day, falling from $6.20 at the market's close Wednesday to $3.86 by the end of trading Thursday.
Its share price fell by another 5% by early Friday afternoon to $3.67, which is down almost 79% from this point last year.
OPI didn't respond to Bisnow's request for comment. Shareholders of record as of Jan. 22 will get their distributions around Feb. 15, the company said.
The company had voiced concerns over the office market in its third-quarter call with analysts.
“Leasing across the sector remains challenged with elevated vacancy and sublease levels,” the company said on Oct. 31, according to MarketWatch.
OPI’s portfolio spans roughly 20.7M SF and includes 154 properties in 30 states and Washington, D.C. Its properties have a utilization rate close to 70%, the company said.
In another effort to generate cash, the REIT is also exploring options such as the sale of 400 S. Jefferson St., a six-story, 285K SF office building in Chicago. The building serves as the headquarters for Tyson Foods, but the poultry giant plans to vacate in January next year and move its corporate offices to Springfield, Arkansas.
Alternative asset manager The RMR Group, OPI’s parent company, has also suffered over the past year. Its stock has fallen by roughly 7.8% over the past 12 months, according to MarketWatch. RMR’s share price was down by almost 27% from the previous day as of Friday morning.
RMR had moved to merge OPI with another REIT it manages, Diversified Healthcare Trust, to shore up its balance sheet. The pair announced the deal in April, but shareholders argued that the merger would damage DHC by forcing it to carry OPI’s weak office properties.
Critics argued that only RMR stood to benefit. The merger was called off in September.
OPI isn't the only office REIT to slash its dividends to shore up cash in the face of a shaky market. In April, Vornado Realty Trust announced that it would suspend dividend payments to shareholders for the rest of the year, leading to an 11% dip in its share price before the markets opened the following day.
