Why Hoegh LNG Partners Plunged 63% at the Open Today

Shares of master limited partnership (MLP) Hoegh LNG Partners (NYSE: HMLP) fell a dramatic 63% in the first minutes of trading on July 28. There's no question about why the stock nosedived. The partnership, which owns a fleet of ships that provide services to the liquified natural gas industry, announced it was cutting its distribution after the market closed on July 27.

This is no small event. The distribution is being trimmed from $0.44 per quarter to a token penny a share. That's basically to appease institutional investors that have a dividend mandate, meaning that, effectively, the distribution was eliminated. This is massive, given that the MLP structure is specifically designed to pass income on to unitholders.

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Source Fool.com