P.M. BRIEFING : Shearson to Trim Commissions : Money-Strapped Shearson to Trim Stockbroker Commissions

Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc. is cutting stockbrokers’ commissions for the first time in 15 years, the investment company confirmed today.

The portion of the commission that a broker gets for selling investment products, called the payout rate, will be trimmed by 1 to 2 percentage points in 1990, Shearson spokesman Michael O’Neill said.

Shearson, the country’s second-biggest securities firm after Merrill Lynch & Co., has been contemplating trimming the payout rate by 4 to 5 percentage points over the next four to five years, O’Neill said.

The average Shearson retail broker brought in commissions of $228,000 this year, and Shearson paid out 46.5% of the total back to brokers and their supervisors in direct payments, employee benefits and deferred payments.

The reduction in the payout rate is intended to increase revenue at Shearson, which is facing a threat from Moody’s Investors Service Inc. to lower the investment rating on its commercial paper.