PENGROWTH ENERGY $6.44 - Toronto symbol PGF

PENGROWTH ENERGY $6.44 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 498.5 million; Market cap: $3.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 7.5%; www.pengrowth.com) has cut its monthly dividend by 42.9%, to $0.04 a share from $0.07. With the cut, the new annual dividend rate of $0.48 a share yields 7.5%.

The company’s selling prices for oil and natural gas have fallen, and it wants to conserve cash for potential acquisitions and investments in promising new projects, such as its Lindbergh oil sands development in Alberta.

The savings will also help Pengrowth integrate oil producer NAL Energy Corp., which it recently purchased.

Adding NAL’s properties in Alberta and B.C. has increased Pengrowth’s projected 2012 production to between 86,000 and 89,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from its earlier range of 74,500 to 76,500 barrels.

Pengrowth is still a buy.

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