Dividend cut a prudent move

Article Excerpt

PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $6.13 (Toronto symbol PGF; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 364.5 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; Price-to sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 7.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.pengrowth.com) is cutting its monthly dividend by 42.9%, to $0.04 a share from $0.07, starting with the August 2012 payment. The new annual dividend rate of $0.48 yields 7.8%. The company’s selling prices for oil and natural gas are falling, and it wants to conserve cash for acquisitions and investments in new projects like its Lindbergh oil sands development in Alberta. Lindbergh should begin operating in 2015, and will increase Pengrowth’s production by a third by 2018. The project’s reserves should last 25 years. Pengrowth is still a buy for aggressive investors. investors…