The first of the oil majors, COP, cuts the dividend

Damn, down over 6%

Think BP is far behind in cutting divvy also?

Correct

quote:

---

if you don't take dividends as income, it would be 2.7 tax free.

---

Dividends in a taxable account are taxable whether the stockholder reinvests the dividends or takes them as a cash payout.

If reinvested, the dividends increase the cost basis of the holding by the amount of the dividend thus lowering the taxable gains when the holding is eventually sold.

quote:

---

My opinion only, this isn't a stock to buy for dividends in the current environment. At some point, and based on today's news we are closer, it is a stock to buy for long term appreciation.

---

I'll be looking for an entry point later in the month. I'd like to see it drop just a bit more.

anyone think XOM will cut dividends too?

I don't think XOM will cut its dividend. Over the years XOM has been criticized for its conservative dividend payout versus the other major oil companies. XOM's dividend philosophy has always been 'slow and steady.'

For example, XOM's dividend was lower than COP's dividend (prior to COP's just announced div cut) although XOM's price was almost double COP's price per share.

And XOM announced its 4th quarter earnings just two days ago. In spite of the low price of crude, XOM still had net profits of almost $60 billion in the fourth quarter of last year beating analyst estimates by almost $7 billion.

Full disclosure, XOM is my largest stock holding.

If you reinvest though you have to keep track of that for tax reasons down the road right?

quote:

---

reinvested dividends being taxable. I guess I never noticed this on my 1099's before...
The brokerage 1099's are 50 pages long,

---

Schwab's 1099s aggregate all taxable dividends on line 1b regardless how many pages the 1099 is. And I only have to e-download the 1099 directly into the TurboTax software and it handles the reporting requirements. That includes all of my trades during the year.

One of the advantages (maybe the ONLY advantage) of doing my own taxes is it forces me to pay attention to tax documentation details.

quote:

---

If you reinvest though you have to keep track of that for tax reasons down the road right?

---

Yes, as your basis in these additional shares essentially is the cash value of the dividend. However, if you have a broker worth a damn, they will track this for you. If you have a DRIP, they will track it for you. So you only need to track it if you want to, or if you hold shares in certificate form.