FirstMerit (FMER) has declared its next quarterly dividend.  The bank is to pay $0.16 per share of its common stock on March 18, to shareholders of record as of March 4. That payout is the same as the company's previous quarterly disbursements, stretching back to November 2009. Previously, it paid nearly double that amount, at $0.29 per share.

At an annualized rate, the current distribution amounts to $0.64. This yields 4.3% on FirstMerit's Thursday closing price of $14.96.

The Ohio-based company's stock closed slightly down in trading after the dividend announcement was made.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly calculated the annualized distribution. The error has been corrected.