When Will My Dividend Bounce Back?

Yet sometimes, after the damage is done and the dust has cleared, companies restore their dividends. We can look at the recently troubled industries of banking, oil, and auto manufacturing to get a better sense of when dividends go bad and what it takes to bring them back. Don't bank on it Citigroup (NYSE: C) , one of the prime players in the financial crisis, halted its dividend in 2009, but it recently announced that it will start paying one again. Before the meltdown in 2007, Citi's dividend was as high as $0.54 a quarter -- before adjusting for its 1-for-10 reverse split. The bank will pay its first dividend in more than two years on June 17 at $0.01 a share. Consider this progress. That'll be at the same rate as Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) , which, granted, isn't the most flattering comparison in the world.... Read more