 Elmira Savings Bank said Wednesday it was lowering its quarterly dividend by 35, to 15 cents a share from a previous payout of 23 cents a share. The new dividend will be payable June 12 to shareholders of record on June 5. We made a difficult decision to reduce our cash dividend for the current quarter due to the uncertainty of the economic recovery, said Chief Executive Thomas Carr. The Elmira, New York-based savings banks stock rose 7.4 in afternoon trading. Based on current stock prices, the new annual dividend rate would imply a dividend yield of 5.16, compared with the yield for the SPDR SP; Regional Banking ETF of 3.86 and the implied yield for the SP; 500 of 1.94. The stock has lost 23.0 year to date, while the regional bank ETF has shed 39.2 and the SP; 500 has lost 8.1. 