NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The two-year slide in energy company shares has produced wildly inflated dividend yields - a sign of more pain to come for investors who already have suffered the effects of a historic slide in crude prices. Oil-dependent companies now are paying out as much as 19 percent of their share prices in dividends, raising flags that payout cuts will keep rolling on. Oil-dependent companies, in particular, have seen revenues and cash levels fall along with their share prices, so they may not have the wherewithal to maintain their dividend payments. "The stock prices are absolutely telling you that a (dividend) cut of some order is expected," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. "Their basic business is eroding so they can't support a dividend at this level." The high dividend yields are a mathematical result of share price declines. Noble Energy Inc, for example, had a dividend yield of 1.5 percent at the end of 2014, when it was paying 18 cents a share. The yield rose to 2.2 percent at the end of 2015 as Noble's shares fell. On Tuesday, Noble cut its quarterly payout 44 percent to 10 cents, lowering the dividend yield to 1.3 percent. Analysts now are eyeing ConocoPhillips' 8 percent payout; Barclays analysts said it is in the company's best interest to slash its dividend by "at least" 75 percent and it should announce the move when its results are out next week. But Gary Bradshaw of Hodges Capital Management in Dallas, who holds the stock, said he sees Conoco keeping the dividend steady even if it has to borrow cash to do so. He expects other big diversified companies like Exxon and Chevron to maintain their payouts, as well, unless oil stays around $30 a barrel for the year - a level he says is unsustainable for the industry. Williams Companies, in the process of being acquired by Energy Transfer Equity, pays out nearly 13 percent of its share price in annual dividends - the highest for any member of the S&P 500 index, and more than triple its 2014 dividend yield of 3.7 percent. Other energy companies yielding double digits are Archrock Inc near 12 percent compared to its 2015 payout of about 3 percent and ONEOK Inc, yielding more than 10 percent compared to a 2.7 percent yield in 2014. A dividend cut or suspension is a signal to investors that a company could in financial dire straits. Given the widely-known hurdles for the energy industry, however, announcements have not always been met with sharp stock price declines. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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