In another sign of the toll from low oil prices, the Waltham-based energy supply company Global Partners LP has cut its quarterly dividend by a third — unwelcome news for investors, especially retirees who rely on those payments for income.

Like many other public traded companies in the energy sector, the Fortune 500 firm, which oversees a massive network of petroleum products and renewable fuels in the Northeast, has suffered financially due to the falling cost of crude oil.

The new quarterly dividend is now around 46 cents a share, down from nearly 70 cents. It was the first time Global Partners reduced the quarterly payout since it went public in 2005, according to chief executive Eric Slifka.

“We continue to be negatively impacted by fixed costs associated with our crude oil business, including railcar leases,’’ Slifka said. “As a result, in the first quarter we have implemented a number of initiatives to reduce expenses and manage our cash flow.’’

Cost-cutting measures include reducing the head count by about 70 people, or approximately 8 percent of its workforce.

The stock dropped below $14 a share at one point this week, down from its 52-week high of $42.74, and the company recently reported revenues for the third quarter fell to $2.5 billion from $4 billion in 2014. That’s a drop of almost 40 percent.

Global Partners traces its roots to a Dorchester company founded in 1933 called Slifky’s Reliable Oil Burner Service. It now distributes gasoline, heating oil, and other types of fuel to wholesale, retail, and commercial customers in New England and New York. It also operates a network of rail-loading facilities, storage and barge terminals, gas stations, and convenience stores.

Few energy companies have been spared the ongoing woes of the world’s crude oil market. Case in point: Kinder Morgan, North America’s largest pipeline operator, shocked investors last month when it cut its dividend payouts by almost 75 percent.

That reduction, designed to preserve $3 billion in cash and avoid a downgrade to junk status, shrunk Kinder Morgan’s annual dividends to 50 cents a share from $1.93 the year before.

Retirement portfolios, which are often heavy on income-producing dividend stocks, tend to be particularly hard-hit when companies slash their payouts.

Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SachaPfeiffer.