Caterpillar Maintains High Dividend Yield

Caterpillar (CAT: 58.89 +0.19%) today announced that they are maintaining their quarterly dividend payment of $.42 per share.

The current dividend yield now stands at 5.7% and there had been rumors that Caterpillar may take this opportunity to cut their quarterly dividend. In after hours trading, the stock was down 1.2% on the news.

“There are significant economic challenges in today’s global economy, and Caterpillar is assertively addressing the requirement to significantly reduce production levels,” said Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Owens. “Given this challenging environment, and the uncertainty it creates, I am pleased we have maintained our dividend rate for our stockholders.”

The dividend will be payable on May 20, 2009 to shareholders of record as of April 20, 2009.