Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Thursday and announced plans to increase its dividend. Shell will raise its dividend by around 4% to $0.1665 from $0.16 for the third quarter of 2020.
This is a surprising move after the dividend cut in April this year. Shell slashed its (quarterly) dividend in April, from $0.47 per share to $0.16 as coronavirus lockdowns caused a global collapse in oil demand. This dividend cut was for the first time since World War II.
The Shell stock price is still down more than 60% year-to-date and jumped today 4.50%. The current dividend yield is around 5.0%
