GE keeps shareholder dividend intact

General Electric shareholders can breathe a little easier. At least for now.

The board declared a 12-cent dividend, holding the payout steady for another quarter despite growing concerns that it would get cut. The dividend is payable July 25 to owners of record at the close of business June 18, GE said in a statement Friday.

The decision offers a small salve to investors still reeling from a slump that has wiped out $120 billion of GE’s market value in the past year. The Boston-based company has languished at the bottom of the Dow Jones Industrial Average while contending with troublesome financial liabilities, an accounting investigation by U.S. regulators and a weak market for its signature gas turbines.

While GE doesn’t typically change the dividend midyear, fears of a reduction had multiplied as cash generation slowed and the asset base shrank. Chief Executive Officer John Flannery, who took the helm from Jeffrey Immelt last year, chopped the dividend in half in November as he sought to rein in expenses.

GE rose 0.8 percent to $13.89 a share at 10:32 a.m. Friday in New York, reversing modest losses earlier in the session. The stock was down 21 percent this year through Thursday, the worst performance on the Dow.

JPMorgan Chase said this week that GE needs to raise at least $30 billion to bring down its leverage. RBC Capital Markets pointed out that the options market was pricing in a dividend reduction, with analyst Deane Dray saying that “GE’s cash position has incrementally worsened” this year.