From what I have been able to piece together, the agent for the preferred share distribution was having some sort of difficulty and a new agent was going to be employed to make the distribution. Like you, I had the dividend shares and then I didn't.
Whether using a new agent is actually happening or not remains to be seen. In any event, the new preferred dividend shares were not going to be tradeable for at least 6 to 12 months. E-trade may be right that FNRC simply backed out on the distribution. At this point, that would be consistent with what I said above.
To be honest, I'm not too concerned about the dividend shares right now, because I think the drilling in the Utica Shale has the potential to send current shares up to $5 a share and maybe even $10 if they actually strike oil. This is supposed to happen this month, according to the last update from the company.
My strategy is to sell my current shares, if they spike, to new buyers who may become interested in the company as a result of the potential drilling, and then keep the dividend shares, if we ever get them, as a bonus for the longer term.
Good luck and lets hope the drilling goes well this month. I'll have my finger on the sell button once we get above $5, if we do. Keep in mind that if there is no drilling or if it is a dry hole, the current share price could go south fast also.
It is also interesting to note the low volume of shares traded each day. Seems to be in the several hundred to several thousand range, but yet there are 167,000 shares in the float. This tells me that current holders have not really tried to sell yet and new buyers haven't really shown up yet either. Kind of like a stalemate. Ask yourself what could happen to the share price if there is true interest generated in the company as a result of successful drilling. In the meantime, $.80 to $1.00 seems like a comfortable resting place.
Cropduster
