General Motors reinstates dividend suspended in pandemic

The logo for General Motors appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, April 23, 2018. General Motors will reinstate quarterly dividend payments that were suspended during the pandemic that shut down its factories. The automaker said Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, that the dividend of 9 cents per share will be paid on Sept. 15 to shareholders of record on Aug. 31. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors will reinstate quarterly dividend payments that were suspended during the pandemic that shut down its factories.

The automaker said Friday that the dividend of 9 cents per share will be paid on Sept. 15 to shareholders of record on Aug. 31.

GM canceled its quarterly dividend in April 2020 as COVID-19 spread unchecked in the U.S. and manufacturing in the U.S. screeched to a near halt.

The last time the Detroit automaker suspended dividend payments was in 2008 during the nation's worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Those payments resumed six years later, in 2014.

GM also announced that its going to start buying back shares again. The company board boosted its existing stock buyback program's capacity to $5 billion, from $3.3 billion earlier this week.

Shares of General Motors Co. are up 7% this month.