http://66.225.205.104/JR20100428.mp3
Bank of America shareholders are gathering at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center this morning for their annual meeting. It's not expected to be as contentious as last year, when shareholders forced CEO Ken Lewis out of the board chairmanship, but WFAE's Julie Rose reports investors still have some demands: Today, Brian Moynihan will lead his first shareholder meeting as Bank of America CEO. If he follows the pattern of Ken Lewis, Moynihan will stand alone in the spotlight as an auditorium full of investors pepper him with questions. But he has a couple of advantages over Lewis: First of all, Moynihan can blame the old guard for the bank's past problems. Plus, shareholders are in a slightly better mood. Their stock is worth twice what it was at last year's meeting and the bank reported a $2.8 billion profit for the first quarter. As usual, shareholders will vote on proposals from their peers, including several that call for more oversight of executive compensation. But the bigger question on most minds will be: When will Bank of America start paying stock dividends again? Shareholders could once count on receiving more than $2 a share each year. But the dividend dropped to a penny in 2008 and hasn't returned.