Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.72

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, May 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of 0.716 per share by the energy company on Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th.

Shell has a dividend payout ratio of 39.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Shell to earn $7.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.86 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.9%.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL stock opened at $65.17 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $66.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.87. The stock has a market cap of $196.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38. Shell has a 12 month low of $58.55 and a 12 month high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.30. Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. The business had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Shell will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shell

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Shell stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 51.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,463 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,545 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $468,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the energy company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Shell currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.35.

Shell Company Profile

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure to deliver gas to market.