Quad/Graphics, Inc (QUAD) Cuts Dividends and Lowers Sales Guidance
According to the complaint for alleged violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 between February 22, 2017 and October 29, 2019, throughout the relevant period, Quad/Graphics (QUAD) released financial results that touted the Company’s increasing net sales and consistently reaffirmed its full-year 2019 guidance. Despite auspicious financial statements that assured the Company’s viability, on October 29, 2019, Quad/Graphics announced to shareholders that the Company was cutting dividend payments in half to $0.15 per share due to declining net sales. In addition, Quad/Graphics disclosed plans to divest its book business, which produces $200 million in annual sales, due to “lower market prices on paper byproduct recoveries.” To reflect the upcoming divestiture of its book business, the Company decreased its 2019 sales guidance from the previous range of $4.05 billion to $4.25 billion to $3.9 billion. On this news, the following day Quad/Graphics’s share price fell $6.42 per share, or approximately 57%, to close at $4.85 and has yet to recover.
