Strategy Inc (Nasdaq: MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy, said on August 31, 2026 that it will hold the annual dividend rate on its STRC preferred stock at 12.00%. The rate covers semi-monthly periods beginning on or after September 16.
Key Takeaways
- Strategy will keep the STRC annual dividend rate at 12.00% for semi-monthly periods starting on or after September 16, 2026.
- The board declared cash dividends on all five preferred series, payable September 30 to holders of record September 15.
- STRC holders receive $0.50 per share for each of two semi-monthly periods, paid at the end of September and in mid-October.
- Management will recommend holding the 12.00% rate until STRC shows sustained, healthy trading near $100 per share.
- Strategy expects both payments to count as non-taxable returns of capital against a holder’s tax basis.
What Happened?
Strategy’s board declared cash dividends across five preferred series in a Form 8-K filed with the SEC. Holders of record at 5:00 p.m. New York time on September 15 collect on September 30, with STRE measured at London time.
| Series | Ticker | Period | Per share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.00% Series A Perpetual Strife | STRF | Quarter ending September 30, 2026 | $2.50 |
| Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch | STRC | Semi-monthly ending September 30, 2026 | $0.50 |
| Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch | STRC | Semi-monthly ending October 15, 2026 | $0.50 |
| 10.00% Series A Perpetual Stream | STRE | Quarter ending September 30, 2026 | €2.50 |
| 8.00% Series A Perpetual Strike | STRK | Quarter ending September 30, 2026 | $2.00 |
| 10.00% Series A Perpetual Stride | STRD | Quarter ending September 30, 2026 | $2.50 |
The second STRC installment goes to holders of record at the end of that month. The maintained rate has no effect on dividends already declared but unpaid.
Stretch Dividend Rate maintained at 12.00% for September 2026. $STRC pic.twitter.com/quCm4YajDH
— Strategy (@Strategy) September 1, 2026
The 12.00% Rate Carries a Price Test
Strategy tied STRC’s coupon to a share-price condition and has not moved off it. Management “will recommend to the board of directors that the Company maintain STRC’s regular dividend rate per annum at 12.00% until STRC has demonstrated sustained, healthy trading near $100 per share,” according to the filing.
Twenty-four semi-monthly payments of $0.50 come to $12.00 a year, which is what a 12.00% rate produces against the $100 mark the company names. STRC is a variable-rate instrument, so the coupon is a lever Strategy resets at its own discretion, and leaving it untouched says the stock has not cleared the company’s threshold. STRC carries the highest stated rate of the five series, ahead of the 10.00% on STRF, STRE and STRD.
The filing leaves three things open:
- How long trading must hold near $100 before it counts as sustained?
- What rate the company would move to once that condition is met?
- Whether the board would follow management’s recommendation?
Both Payments Are Expected to Be Returns of Capital
Strategy expects the payments to be characterized as non-taxable returns of capital to the extent of a shareholder’s tax basis for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The company dated that expectation to September 1, 2026 and made no determination for any individual holder.
Preferred holders already in these positions have two items to check: eligibility on the September record dates, and how return-of-capital treatment interacts with their basis, which the filing directs shareholders to raise with their own tax advisors.
The Bottom Line
Strategy funds its bitcoin position with preferred paper, and STRC is the piece of that stack whose cost the company can reset at will. Holding the rate at 12.00% keeps the most expensive coupon of the five running while Strategy continues raising equity through its at-the-market program. The declaration locks in a known cash outflow on a security the market has not pushed back toward the level the company points to.
The five series structure commits Strategy to quarterly obligations on four instruments and a twice-monthly one on the fifth, in dollars and euros. Return-of-capital characterization softens the tax treatment for holders without changing the cash leaving the balance sheet.
