Goodyear to issue dividend on 5.875% preferred stock

On 2 December, the directors of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company have announced a quarterly dividend of 73.44 cents per share of mandatory convertible preferred stock. According to the company, the dividend is payable 1 January 2014, to shareholders of record on 13 December 2013. The payout represents an annual rate of $2.9375 per share.

The latest announcement follows the September issuance of another dividend. On this occasion it was of 5 cents per share of common stock. The dividend was payable 1 December 2013 and represented an annual rate of 20 cents per share.

The fact that a company issues of a dividend is not always headline news, but on this occasion it represented the return of shareholder dividends after an absence of 11 years. With this in mind, the fact that the company has issued a further, more generous dividend could be read as both a sign of increasing confidence at the company as well as an attempted to woo loyal shareholders.