Monthly dividend payer SL Green Realty cuts dividend by 12.9%

On December 5, 2022, SL Green Realty Corp (trading symbol SLG) declared a monthly dividend of $0.2708 per share. This is 12.9% dividend cut from the previous monthly payment of $0.3108 per share. The dividend yield for SLG is 9.1% at a stock price of $34.76.

New York offices REIT (Real estate investment trust) SL Green Realty Corp had raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years with a 2.5% dividend hike announced in 2021. This years dividend cut ends this track record that was started back in 2010. SL Green however did also cut the dividend in both 2008 and 2009 during the financial crisis. The dividend yield for SLG is 9.1% at a stock price of $34.76.

SL Green Realty Corp., Manhattan’s largest office landlord, announced today that its board of directors has reduced the annual ordinary dividend on SL Green’s common stock and units of its operating partnership by 12.9%, to $3.25 per share. The ordinary dividend will continue to be paid in cash on a monthly basis. The first monthly ordinary dividend of $0.2708 per share is payable on January 17, 2023, to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 30, 2022.

“We endeavor to provide our shareholders with a meaningful, sustainable ordinary dividend that has a correlation to operating cash flow while furthering our initiative to maintain substantial liquidity and repay debt amid the backdrop of a rising rate environment. We have reduced the dividend to match our current projection of Funds Available for Distribution (“FAD”) for 2023, which allows us to strike this balance as we continue to provide a yield on our common stock of approximately 8.0%, based on the current share price, while projecting an increase in liquidity to nearly $1.6 billion and a reduction of combined debt by almost $2.4 billion during 2023,” said Matt DiLiberto, Chief Financial Officer.

Other real estate companies cutting their dividend recently are Castellum from Sweden and Ellington Residental, also a monthly paying REIT just like SL Green.

SL Green Realty Corp., Manhattan's largest office landlord, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of September 30, 2022, SL Green held interests in 62 buildings totaling 33.6 million square feet. This included ownership interests in 29.3 million square feet of Manhattan buildings and 3.5 million square feet securing debt and preferred equity investments.