Exxon Maintains Dividend as Oil Rally Expected to Boost Cash
- Oil major has failed to fund payout with cash for 8 quarters
- Rally caused major Wall Street banks to upgrade stock
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Exxon Mobil Corp. kept the S&P 500 Index’s third-largest dividend after this year’s rally in commodity prices eased analysts’ fears that the payout was becoming unaffordable.
Exxon’s first-quarter dividend will be 87 cents a share, the same level as the previous seven payouts, the Irving, Texas-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. The decision means Exxon, for now, remains one of corporate America’s “dividend aristocrats,” defined as companies that have increased the shareholder distribution consistently for 25 years or more.