Impac Mortgage cuts quarterly dividend

Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., which specializes in loans between the “prime” and “sub-prime” categories, slashed its quarterly dividend by 60% on Thursday but said it should have ample liquidity to weather the U.S. housing downturn.

Shares of the Irvine-based company ended regular trading Thursday at $4.65, up 4 cents, but rose to as much as $5.45 after hours.

Impac declared a first-quarter dividend of 10 cents a share, down from 25 cents in the fourth quarter. As a real estate investment trust, the company must distribute 90% of its annual taxable income.

Impac said operating losses at its REIT unit should continue until investor confidence returns to the mortgage markets.

It also said that it securitized $2.2 billion of “Alt-A” residential loans and $235 million of commercial and multifamily loans in the first quarter. Impac said it should end the quarter with $800 million of unsold loans in its inventory, half the year-end level, and about $130 million in cash.

Alt-A loans are defined as ones that fall only slightly short of the credit standards of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest U.S. mortgage firms.

Chief Executive Joseph Tomkinson said that “it is prudent to preserve liquidity,” and that the securitizations “demonstrate the company’s ability to attract bond investors despite the unusually volatile mortgage market.”