Company Update (NYSE:LYB): LyondellBasell Announces New Share Repurchase Program and Increased Dividend

[PR Newswire] – HOUSTON and LONDON, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — LyondellBasell (LYB) today announced that its Supervisory Board has authorized the company’s Management Board to declare an interim dividend of $0.85 per share, representing a nine percent increase from the company’s first quarter 2016 dividend. The interim dividend will be paid June 7, 2016 to shareholders of record May 24, 2016, with an ex-dividend date of May 20, 2016. The company also announced that at its Annual General Meeting on May 11, 2016, shareholders approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the company to repurchase up to 10% of the company’s shares over the next 18 months. Read more on this. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LYB) , with a current value of $34.63B, started the session at $81.03. Looking at the stock, its one day range is $80.67 to $82.35 with a one year range of $69.10 to $106.50. Priced at 8.32x this year’s forecasted earnings, LYB shares are relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 28.70x forward p/e ratio. And for dividend hunters, the company pays shareholders $3.12 per share annually in dividends, yielding 3.81%. According to a consensus of 16 analysts, the earnings estimate of $2.50 per share would be $0.30 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.05 sequential increase. The full-year EPS estimate is $9.75 which would be a $0.60 worse than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $7.53 Billion. If reported, that would be a 17.61% decrease over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Nomura downgraded LYB from Buy to Neutral (Apr 27, 2016). Previously, Atlantic Equities downgraded LYB from Neutral to Underweight. Given all the information above, we should disclose to readers that the average price target is $94.11, which is 16.14% above than it opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:LYB) Similar Articles: Company Update: LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) – LyondellBasell Announces Planned Departure of Sergey Vasnetsov Market Update: LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) – LyondellBasell to Discuss Fourth-Quarter Results on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016 Market Update (NYSE:LYB): LyondellBasell Announces Executive Leadership Changes