After CBL & Associates (CBL) announced the suspension of all dividends (common and preferred) last December, the natural question was which mall REIT would be next. Both Washington Prime Group (WPG) and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PEI) seemed like good dividend cut candidates, based on their unsustainably high payout ratios.
On Wednesday, Washington Prime finally bowed to the inevitable and announced a 50% cut to its dividend. By contrast, PREIT announced last week that it would pay a $0.21 dividend on its common shares as usual this quarter,