Macy's, Inc. (M) will suspend its quarterly dividend. The fashion retailer last hiked its dividend by 4.9 percent to $0.3775 per share in 2016. The company did not announce dividend hikes in the last three years.

It today's press release the company states that it is suspending its regular quarterly cash dividend payout beginning in the second quarter of fiscal 2020. The company’s previously announced dividend payment occurring on April 1, 2020, is not affected by the suspension. Shareholders of record as of March 13, 2020, will receive the first quarter dividend payment as scheduled.

“The retail environment has deteriorated rapidly since we last provided guidance. And while February results met our expectations, we are now operating in an environment with a high degree of uncertainty. The actions we are announcing today give us additional financial flexibility to address the disruption we are seeing in our business, which we anticipate will continue into the foreseeable future,” said Jeff Gennette, chairman and chief executive officer. “We are navigating this unprecedented situation thoughtfully and have a cross-functional senior team that is fully dedicated to managing our response and ensuring we make the right decisions quickly. We will continue to take the necessary actions to ensure that Macy’s, Inc. and our brands – Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury – emerge from the other side of this crisis ready to serve our customers and welcome back our colleagues.”

Macy’s, Inc.  operates stores in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. The company's operations are conducted through Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Bloomingdale’s The Outlet, Macy’s Backstage, and bluemercury. In addition, Bloomingdale's in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Al Zahra, Kuwait are operated under license agreements with Al Tayer Insignia, a company of Al Tayer Group, LLC. The company sells a wide range of merchandise, including apparel and accessories (men’s, women’s and kids'), cosmetics, home furnishings and other consumer goods. The specific assortments vary by size of store, merchandising assortments and character of customers in the trade areas. Most stores are located at urban or suburban sites, principally in densely populated areas across the United States. Macy's is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware in 1985. The company and its predecessors have been operating department stores since 1830. Macy’s, Inc. is headquartered in New York, New York.