Magellan Won’t Pay a Dividend

Fidelity Investments said Monday that because of a calculation error, its giant Magellan Fund won’t pay out year-end capital gains or dividends, as originally estimated.

Fidelity had predicted in November that the fund, the nation’s largest stock fund, would distribute $4.32 a share in year-end gains and dividends. But on Monday the firm said it had made an error and that no distributions will be made.

The error doesn’t affect the fund’s price, Fidelity said, because the original distribution figure was only an estimate.

But some fund experts were puzzled. “It appears this is some form of an accounting snafu rather than a portfolio shifting. It certainly is a large accounting snafu,” said Michael Lipper of fund tracker Lipper Analytical Services.