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

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th.

Shell has a dividend payout ratio of 39.6% 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 Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE SHEL traded up $1.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $66.16. 4,584,184 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,323,047. Shell has a 12 month low of $58.55 and a 12 month high of $74.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $66.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $199.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.38.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.30. Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. The firm had revenue of $69.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Shell will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shell

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

Shell declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the energy company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SHEL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Shell from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Shell from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $77.35.

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.