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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (45144)	11/14/2008 12:29:52 AM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71592

GE's Devoted To Dividend Ruthie Ackerman, 11.13.08, 07:15 PM EST Conglomerate affirms commitment to juicy payout; Immelt buys more. * General Electric Co. Fri Nov 14 2008 00:29 EST $16.86 $+0.57 +3.50% Chart General Electric Co.Chart General Electric Co.Chart General Electric Co. o 1 day o 3 mo o 1 year o Advanced Tearsheet \| Chart \| News General Electric thinks investors have enough to worry about. So on Thursday it affirmed its previous announcement to maintaining its 31 cent per share dividend through 2009, combating rumors to the contrary. Early on Thursday, General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people )’s shares tumbled more than 10.0% before the company reassured investors. Amid a general upswing, the stock ended the day rising 3.5%, or 57 cents, to $16.86. Article Controls imageemail imageprint imagereprint imagenewsletter imagecomments imageshare imagedel.icio.us imageDigg It! imageyahoo imageFacebook imagerss Yahoo! Buzz On Sept. 25, GE said it planned to maintain its quarterly dividend of 31 cents per share through the end of 2009, and on Thursday it restated that intention. Normally, shareholders would be happier to hear about plans to increase a dividend, but these are not normal times. When the company first announced its dividend plans, its stock was trading around $25. At the current level, the shares will yield 7.4% with the 31-cent quarterly payout. That's an enormous amount for a blue-chip company, whose total returns over the long-term are usually expected to be in the 11.0%-12.0% range. It wouldn't take much earnings growth to beat that level. Among the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average, only Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people )'s 8.0% yield is higher. GE said it has taken steps to strengthen its liquidity, including participating in the government’s commercial paper funding facility and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s loan guarantee program . The company's problems have been so bad recently that it accepted a $3.0 billion investment from Warren Buffett 's Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRK - news - people ) at what then seemed to be a near-usurious 10.0% interest rate. Buffett's cash, along with a $12.2 billion stock offering, helped the company maintain its triple-A bond rating, one of six awarded to U.S. corporations. (See "GE Pays Now For Profit Later.") Meanwhile, Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission bought 50,000 GE shares at an average price of $16.42, brining his holdings to 1.6 million shares. Vice Chairman Michael Neal also bought 50,000 shares at $14.99 each.