Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.72 Per Share

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.716 per share by the energy company on Monday, March 24th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69.

Shell has a payout ratio of 34.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Shell to earn $7.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.75 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SHEL traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,424,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,428,746. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.41. The company has a market capitalization of $201.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.54, a P/E/G ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Shell has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 14.54%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Shell will post 8.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SHEL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

About Shell

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.