Dividend

With price consciousness and diversification so vital to investors in an uncertain year, dividend-reinvestment plans fit right in. DRIPs, as they are commonly called, are company-run plans that allow you to invest in a firm's stock with a modest initial outlay and continue to reinvest dividends to buy additional shares. You also can make additional purchases of shares from the company. Of roughly 100 available DRIPs, about half permit you to buy your initial stock directly from the company with no broker needed.

In a sharp contrast to the crisis atmosphere in Annapolis that surrounded soaring medical malpractice rates just a few years ago, Maryland's biggest malpractice insurer said yesterday that it would use nearly $100 million of its reserves to cut premiums, pay doctors a dividend and reimburse state coffers for emergency subsidies. Under pressure from the state's insurance commissioner, Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland said it will reduce next year's rates by 8 percent, return $84 million to the state and pay member doctors $13.8 million in dividends against 2008 premiums, effectively holding the cost of liability coverage flat for most physicians.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Prison Realty Trust Inc. shares tumbled to their lowest level ever yesterday after the largest private prison owner said it would slash dividend payments and oust its chief executive officer.Prison Realty shares fell 9 percent to close down 50 cents at $5.25 -- after rebounding from $4.50 -- because the company said it would end its status as a real estate investment trust, cutting the 44 percent dividend yield that attracted investors. To avoid taxes, REITs must pay out at least 95 percent of net income to shareholders.

Developer acquires Ellicott City buildingDeveloper Donald R. Reuwer Jr., founder and president of Land Design & Development, has acquired the historic stone Colonial building at 8000 Main St. in Ellicott City. The building will also serve as offices to another Reuwer company, American Real Estate Services L.L.C., a brokerage specializing in land, farms and commercial properties.The former high school history teacher has been active in the restoration of a number of similar Ellicott City properties, including Tiber Place Antique Mall and the former County Health Department Office, now occupied by Tersiguel's French Country Restaurant.

A Rockville-based specialty chemical maker embroiled in a battle over shareholder control said yesterday that it will no longer pay a quarterly dividend. Life Technologies Inc. had paid a 5-cent dividend for the past eight quarters.Life Technologies is controlled by Dexter Corp., a Windsor Locks, Conn., company that makes chemicals for the aerospace, food packaging, electronics and medical markets. Late last year Dexter, which holds 71.4 percent of Life Technologies shares, made a bid for the remaining shares, but the investment firm that controls most of them did not like the offer -- initially $37 a share and eventually reaching $39.125.

Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, a Baltimore-based company that invests in tax-free bonds secured by apartment housing, yesterday reported a 7 percent increase in its annual earnings per share, and boosted the largely tax-free dividend on its common stock for the eighth consecutive quarter.For 1998, Municipal Mortgage, better-known as MuniMae, said it earned $1.60 per diluted share, up 7 percent from the $1.50 recorded in 1997. The year-end number was in line with analysts' forecasts. Actual net income rose to $27.4 million in 1998 from $18.8 million in 1997.

Conectiv Inc., the Wilmington, Del.-based utility that serves parts of Harford County and most of Maryland's Eastern Shore, announced plans yesterday for a major restructuring that includes selling some power plants, slashing its dividend and buying back 12 percent of its common stock.The company said it would also lay off 250 of its 3,700 workers over the next 18 months.The moves, prompted in part by the recent deregulation of the utility industry, are expected to generate about $1 billion in cash that would be used to expand the company's telecommunications business.

Mercantile Bankshares Corp. said yesterday that it is boosting its quarterly dividend 9 percent, and adopting a new anti-takeover plan.Directors of the state's largest independently owned banking company, which has $7.6 billion in assets, voted to raise the dividend by 2 cents to 24 cents a share payable June 30 to stockholders of record June 18.The increase marks the 23rd consecutive year of dividend increases at the Baltimore-based banking company."

INVESTMENT ADVICE for your hard-earned money:"September is historically the year's worst month," says the 1999 Stock Trader's Almanac. "Its dismal performance makes it the only `loss' month, down an average 0.3 percent over 48 years.""Utility investing isn't the simple process of past decades. Risks are up, so are rewards. If you buy `income' utilities, find steady dividend growth and avoid the highest-yielders as excessive returns often precede a dividend cut," says the American Association of Investors Journal.

HERE ARE some suggestions about your investments:AVOID ERRORS: "Two of the biggest mistakes individuals make are threats in this market. The first is paying too much for stocks. Second is selling stocks for wrong reasons -- curbstone gossip, scare headlines, `breaking news' bulletins, etc. Avoid both. Fundamental analysis has been replaced by `follow the money' and `just go where everyone is else splurging.' " (Better Investing)PAYOUT: "An income-oriented stock paying a `no-growth' dividend carries a bond's downside -- no inflation protection -- but without a bond's income or principal guarantees.

Power tool company Black & Decker Corp. said Thursday that it was cutting its dividend by 30 cents to conserve cash in response to the global recession and declining revenue. The Towson company is lowering the dividend to 12 cents from the 42-cent quarterly payout that has been in place since 2007. The last time the company cut its dividend was in 1986, said spokesman Roger Young. The company expects to reduce cash outflows by $54 million this year with the dividend at the lower level.

GE cuts quarterly dividend to 10 cents WASHINGTON: For the first time since the Depression, General Electric Co. is cutting its quarterly dividend, allowing the struggling conglomerate to save $9 billion a year as it braces for a tough 2009. GE, one of the nation's largest companies, said yesterday that it will pay shareholders a 10-cents-per-share dividend beginning in the third quarter, 68 percent lower than the company's original plan of 31 cents. Two more banks fail; total for year is 16 NEW YORK: Regulators closed Heritage Community Bank in Glenwood, Ill., and Security Savings Bank in Henderson, Nev., yesterday, marking 16 failures this year of federally insured institutions.

Six Flags holding job fair Saturday Six Flags America is holding its annual job fair Saturday to hire seasonal workers for 1,500 positions at its park in Bowie. The jobs, which begin in March and run through November, are available in rides, foods, games and front gate operations, among various openings. Besides hourly seasonal positions, Six Flags is also offering college internships and limited full-time positions. Visit www.sixflagsjobs.com to start the application process. The job fair is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 13710 Central Ave. in Bowie.

Constellation Energy Group's chief executive, Mayo A. Shattuck III, blaming himself for the company's financial troubles, announced yesterday that the firm is cutting its dividend in half after losing $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. The company said yesterday that it will seek a rate increase for delivering electricity and natural gas next year to 1.2 million customers of its subsidiary Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., though it did not provide details. And Shattuck said he will forgo his 2008 bonus because of the company's financial problems.

EDF to sell assets to make up for 2008 earnings drop Electricite de France SA, Europe's biggest power producer and a nuclear energy partner with Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group, will sell assets to cut debt after 2008 earnings declined, and it missed estimates on costs associated with regulated power rates. Paris-based EDF will focus on cutting net financial debt by almost $7 million over this year and next after two acquisitions in the past six months. It agreed in December to buy half of Constellation's nuclear energy business for $4.5 billion.

Sinclair Broadcast Group said yesterday that it has eliminated 200 jobs, or 7 percent of its work force, and suspended its quarterly dividend to cut costs as it expects falling advertising revenues this year amid a recession. Besides layoffs, the Hunt Valley broadcaster is cutting back on capital expenditures, freezing salaries, and reducing promotional spending and travel. David Amy, Sinclair's chief financial officer, declined to provide further details yesterday. Such moves are expected to save the company $19 million but are not enough to offset the decline in advertising, particularly in a nonelection year, Sinclair said.

Macy's Inc. announced yesterday that it will cut 7,000 jobs, almost 4 percent of its work force, and reduce its contributions to its employees' retirement funds and slash its dividend to preserve cash amid a severe pullback in consumer spending. The Cincinnati-based department store chain also announced the national rollout of a plan to localize merchandising to specific markets, which it began in some regions last year. The company, which also delivered downbeat earnings and sales forecasts for the year, said it plans to integrate all its geographic divisions into a single unit.

Glitch at Verizon knocks thousands off Internet Several thousand Verizon customers in the Baltimore area were without Internet access for much of yesterday after a circuit board malfunctioned, a Verizon spokeswoman said. The glitch occurred during the late morning but was not caused by higher volume related to the presidential inauguration, according to spokeswoman Sandra Arnette. As of late afternoon, she said, technicians were still working to replace the board. Lorraine Mirabella CSX's 4th-quarter earnings fall 32% NEW YORK : Railroad operator CSX says its fourth-quarter earnings sank 32 percent from a year earlier, mostly as the result of a sizable writedown on the value of a resort the company owns.

Shares of General Growth Properties Inc. rose 27 percent yesterday after the Chicago-based mall owner said it replaced its chief financial officer and suspended dividend payments to weather the seizure in financial markets. The shares climbed $2.08 to $9.67 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock had fallen 86 percent in the 12 months through yesterday. General Growth is the master developer of Columbia and owner of Harborplace and other shopping malls in the Baltimore region.

Third-quarter earnings up 21% at McCormick Spicemaker McCormick & Co. said yesterday that third-quarter earnings per share increased 21 percent as the company raised prices and saw a small benefit from the sale of its Season-All business. The Sparks-based company reported net income of $68.6 million, or 52 cents per share, for the quarter ended Aug. 31. That was compared with $56.8 million, or 44 cents per share, for the corresponding period a year ago. Sales were $781.6 million, compared with $716.