Granite Point Mortgage Trust cut its quarterly cash dividend to 1 cent a share from 5 cents.

The lower dividend is an effort to preserve capital and enhance financial flexibility for capital allocation decisions, Chief Executive Jack Taylor said.

The new payout, equal to 4 cents a year, represents an annual yield of 4.4% based on Tuesday's closing price of 90 cents.

The real estate finance company also declared a quarterly cash dividend of roughly 44 cents a share of the 7% Series A fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock for the fiscal third quarter.

Granite Point resolved a $52.4 million loan secured by a multifamily property, which was in nonaccrual status. As a result of the transaction, the company expects to realize a write-off loss of about $19.9 million.

It also realized two full loan repayments during the most recent quarter, totalling $19.5 million secured by office properties in Ohio and California. It has funded about $7.1 million in unpaid principal balance on existing loans.