Frontier Communications Corp. (fka FTRCQ)

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DJ Frontier Communications' Stock Tumbles To Lead Premarket Decliners After Dividend Suspended -- MarketWatch


9:26 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) Feb 28, 2018
Shares of Frontier Communications Corp. (FTR) tumbled 23% in active premarket trade Wednesday, enough to pace the decliners ahead of the open, after the communications services company suspended its dividend to make resources available to pay down debt. The previous annual dividend rate was $2.40 a share, which based on Tuesday's stock closing price of $9.24 implied a dividend yield of 25.97%, compared with the S&P 500's implied dividend yield of 1.88%, according to FactSet. Separately, FTR also reported late Tuesday a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and revenue that topped expectation, according to FactSet. Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche the dividend cut now frees the company to turn 100% of its attention to operations. "We note the dividend cut was very much a rip-the-Band-Aid-off moment, but we believe those funds can be better spent elsewhere," Fritzsche wrote in a note to clients. "We view [Frontier's] turnaround as very much a 'show me story,' and reiterate our market perform rating on the shares." The stock has dropped 79% over the past 12 months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has climbed 16%.

-Tomi Kilgore