Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Announces 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 given a dividend of 0.716 per share by the energy company on Monday, March 24th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date 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. Equities 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 Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE SHEL traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.82. The company had a trading volume of 5,424,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,428,746. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $64.18 and its 200-day moving average is $67.41. Shell has a 1-year low of $60.15 and a 1-year high of $74.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SHEL shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.11.

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.