Cabot Oil & Gas Q2 Profit Rises

(RTTNews) - Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) Wednesday reported second-quarter net income of $89.1 million or $0.42 per share, up from $35.9 million or $0.17 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.45 per share, compared to $0.05 per share last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.37 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Operating revenues for the quarter grew to $449.7 million from $265.7 million last year. Analysts estimated revenues of $425.95 million for the quarter.

Separately, Cabot Oil & Gas announced that its Board of Directors declared a two-for-one stock split of its common stock to be issued in the form of a stock dividend. The additional shares will be distributed on August 14, 2013 to shareholders of record on August 6, 2013.

"Additionally, Cabot's quarterly dividend payments will increase 100 percent as the Board elected to approve an increase in the cash dividend on a pre-split basis from $0.08 to $0.16 per share annually," said Dan Dinges, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

The company also announced that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend, taking into account the split, of $0.02 per share. The dividend will be paid on August 23, 2013 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 6, 2013.