US Silica cuts dividend by 68 percent

U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA) will lower its quarterly dividend by 68% to 2 cents per share. Earlier the silica maker had already cut its dividend by 50.0 percent to $0.0625 per share.


The next dividend is payable April 3, 2020 with a record date of March 13, 2020. A new annual dividend of 8 cents yields 1.3% at a stock price of $5.95.

"I understand the importance of this decision to our shareholders and we will continue to take a deliberate and thoughtful approach to our capital allocation choices," said Bryan Shinn, U.S. Silica chief executive officer, explaining the dividend cut in the company's press release.  "We believe that reducing our dividend at this time is in the best interest of the Company and shareholders as it will allow us to make additional investments in our growing industrial and logistics businesses and provides greater flexibility to reallocate capital to reduce debt and repurchase shares.''

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. is a performance materials company and last-mile logistics provider. The company is a producer of commercial silica used in a wide range of industrial applications and in the oil and gas industry. The company is headquartered in Katy, Texas and has offices in Reno, Nevada and Chicago, Illinois.