XOM Exxon Mobil Corp

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., hit hard by sharply lower energy prices, slashed its quarterly dividend by 81% to five cents a share.

The move will save the company about $450 million a year, Anadarko Chief Executive Al Walker said.

The company's stock, down more than half over the past 12 months, fell nearly 6% Tuesday to $37.65.

While executives at some major oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC have defended their payouts, vowing to take on new debt, others are cutting dividends.

Last week, ConocoPhillips chopped its dividend from 74 cents to 25 cents, saying the 66% reduction was necessary to protect the company's financial health as oil prices hovered near 12-year lows. The Houston company booked $2.7 billion in charges in the fourth quarter that pushed it to a $3.45 billion loss.

In December, Kinder Morgan Inc. slashed its dividend by 75% to 12.5 cents a share, an unprecedented move for a company that had held dividends as sacrosanct.

Anadarko, one of the largest independent oil and gas producers in the U.S., reported a wider fourth-quarter loss as revenue dropped 35%.

And last week, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services changed its outlook on Anadarko's ratings to negative, indicating a possible downgrade.

Anadarko's first reduced dividend will be made on March 23 to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 9.

The Woodlands, Texas, company had raised its dividend to 27 cents, the level in place before Tuesday's announcement comes into effect, in 2014, just before oil prices began their downward spiral.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2016 17:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

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