Dividend paying stocks in the U.S. stock market are continuing to coast on the positive momentum they established in the second half of 2020. At the midpoint of the first quarter, we find the number of firms having announced they will reduce their dividends is running well below the levels recorded in the first quarters of 2018, 2019, and 2020.

As can be seen in a chart tracking the cumulative number of dividend cuts by day of the quarter, they are also well within the range that indicates the U.S. economy is relatively healthy.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Here's the sampling of ten companies that declared they are reducing their dividends in the first half of the first quarter of 2021.

• The GEO Group (REIT-healthcare) (NYSE: GEO)
• Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (REIT-Retail) (NYSE: SKT)
• Permian Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE: PBT)
• Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (NYSE: CRT)
• VOC Energy Trust (NYSE: VOC)
• JD Bancshares (OTC: JDVB)
• Dorchester Minerals (Nasda: DMLP)
• Pzena (NYSE: PZN)
• Sabine Royalty Trust (NYSE: SBR)
• Healthpeak Properties (REIT-Healthcare) (NYSE: PEAK)

Four are oil and gas royalty trusts that pay variable dividends, three are Real Estate Investment Trusts (two of which are in the healthcare sector, one is in the retail sector), and there is one firm each from the mining, banking, and financial services industries. All in all, it has been a quiet quarter for dividend cuts so far.

References

Seeking Alpha Market Currents. Filtered for Dividends. [Online Database].

Wall Street Journal. Dividend Declarations. [Online Database when searched on the Internet Archive].