U.S. oil producers increase shareholder distributions (7/24/2019)

First-quarter 2019 results for 43 U.S. oil producers indicate they have increased shareholder distributions through dividends and share repurchases during the past two years, averaging 28% of cash from operations since the beginning of 2018. As the overall level of net income, or after-tax profits, increased for this set of companies in recent quarters, many of them increased both shareholder distributions and capital expenditures. Oil price declines since the second quarter of 2019, however, could reduce revenue and cash from operations going forward. This analysis is based on the published financial reports of these 43 companies and does not necessarily represent the financial situation of private companies that do not publish financial reports. ... More »