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U.S. Natural Gas Futures Hold Onto Gains

0914 ET – U.S. natural gas futures hold their ground while oil prices fall on the OPEC+ decision to bring back another 411,000 barrels a day of production in June. 'Bullish longs are jumping back into the natural gas market,' Eli Rubin of EBW Analytics says in a note. The accelerated return of OPEC+ production is a long-term tailwind for natural gas as it will pressure U.S. shale and associated gas production, while the near-term rally may be unsustainable given soft seasonal fundamentals, he says. Nymex natural gas edges up 0.1% at $3.634/mmBtu.(anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

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Is Energy Transfer the All-American Dividend Stock for You? Consider This High-Yielder Instead.
Is Energy Transfer the All-American Dividend Stock for You? Consider This High-Yielder Instead.

Yahoo

time20 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Is Energy Transfer the All-American Dividend Stock for You? Consider This High-Yielder Instead.

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The truth is, owning energy infrastructure assets like pipelines essentially forces these two businesses to be American at heart. After all, you can't move oil around the United States on a pipeline that gets built in Europe. That pipeline has to get built on U.S. soil. The midstream is actually the most boring segment of the overall energy sector. That's because businesses like Energy Transfer and Enterprise charge fees for the use of their assets. Although the oil, natural gas, and other products that flow through the system may have volatile prices, midstream companies don't really care about the price of what they move. They just care about the volume of product they move. The higher the volume, the higher the toll-like revenues they generate. Given the importance of energy to the global economy, demand for oil and natural gas tends to remain fairly robust even when commodity prices are weak. 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It appears that the convertible securities would have protected the CEO from the effect of a dividend cut, had a dividend cut been needed. In the end, Energy Transfer got out of the Williams deal, but that convertible decision should leave a bad taste in investors' mouths. Then, in 2020, when the energy industry was hit hard by demand declines around the coronavirus pandemic, Energy Transfer cut its distribution. Again, the decision was probably the right one for the business, which used the freed-up cash to strengthen its balance sheet. But income investors took it on the chin, and that's the key takeaway here. During the last two big energy industry downturns, when income investors were likely hoping for consistency, they had to worry about, and actually experience, income declines if they owned Energy Transfer. Enterprise Products Partners didn't cut its distribution in 2016 or in 2020. It didn't put out any warnings that such an event was possible. 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timea day ago

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Dangote's $20B refinery sources U.S. crude, raising questions on Nigeria's output

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Prediction: in 12 months the dirt-cheap Shell share price could turn £10,000 into…
Prediction: in 12 months the dirt-cheap Shell share price could turn £10,000 into…

Yahoo

timea day ago

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Prediction: in 12 months the dirt-cheap Shell share price could turn £10,000 into…

The Shell (LSE SHEL) share price looks cheap right now, with a price-to-earnings ratio of just 8.95. That's well below the average FTSE 100 P/E of 15 times. There's a reason for that, of course. Shell shares have fallen with the oil price, slumping almost 10% in 12 months. They're still up 67% over five years though. That's less than half the drop suffered by FTSE 100 rival BP. Shell seems to have a better idea how to navigate the push to net zero, but with the oil price hovering around $65 a barrel, it's still struggling. It's far from a done deal that Shell can bounce back from today's lows and make investors rich all over again. There is little sign the oil price is about to recover. With OPEC+ increasing production, it could fall further, especially as China struggles and Donald Trump brings volatility. Then there's the push towards net zero, which could go either way. Theoretically, building a new line of renewable energy will threaten fossil fuel behemoths, but we need them to help us push through the transition. This is particularly true given exponentially rising energy demand, thanks to AI and the rest. Shell's first-quarter results, published on 2 May, showed adjusted earnings of $5.6bn. That's a big drop from $7.73bn a year earlier but ahead of analyst expectations of $4.96bn. The company also announced another $3.5bn quarterly share buyback programme, marking the 14th consecutive quarter of at least $3bn in buybacks. Cash flow from operations came in at $9.3bn, slightly below consensus expectations of $9.6bn. So what about that dividend? A trailing yield of 4.4% is okay, but not exactly to die for. It's expected to creep up in 2026, but only to 4.49%. Shell isn't the dividend superstar it once was. Over the last 15 years, I would have expected shareholder payouts to compound at a decent clip. Instead, it's fallen by an average of 2.88% a year. The board didn't just slash its full-year dividend from 188 US cents in 2019 to 65.3 cents during the 2020 pandemic. It rebased it. While payouts have climbed at a decent clip since, they started from that lower level. In 2024, the total dividend was 139 US cents. That's at levels last seen in 2007. The 19 analysts serving up one-year share price forecasts have produced a median target of around 3,027p. If correct, that's a handsome increase of around 21.5% from today. Combined with that yield, this would give investors a total return of 26%. Based on that, if somebody invested £10,000 in the stock today, it would grow to £12,600 in a year. Obviously, nobody can predict the future like that. I use it only as a guide to market thinking. Here's another. Of the 32 analysts giving one-year stock ratings, an impressive 23 name Shell a Strong Buy. Four say Hold and five say Sell. Shell continues to face risks, as the oil price slows, net zero spreads confusion, and the global economy struggles. It may look cheap, but there's no guarantee its shares will suddenly close the valuation gap. But for those wanting exposure to energy, today's low valuation does make Shell worth considering. More so than BP, in my book. The post Prediction: in 12 months the dirt-cheap Shell share price could turn £10,000 into… appeared first on The Motley Fool UK. More reading 5 Stocks For Trying To Build Wealth After 50 One Top Growth Stock from the Motley Fool Harvey Jones has positions in Bp P.l.c. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Motley Fool UK 2025

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