Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) shares could be destined to provide investors with a big dividend yields in the near term.
In fact, if consensus estimates are to be believed, the energy producer will deliver earnings strong enough to offer some of the biggest dividend yields on the ASX 200 index in 2023 and 2024.
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Woodside shares tipped to pay big dividends
The analyst consensus estimate is for Woodside to reward its shareholders with fully franked dividends of $3.13 per share in FY 2023 and then $2.68 per share in FY 2024.
Based on where Woodside shares are currently trading, this will mean yields of 8.5% and 7.3%, respectively.
This means that a $20,000 investment would yield dividends worth approximately $1,700 and $1,460 across those two years.
Even bigger dividends forecast by Citi
Consensus estimates are the average of predictions from a large number of brokers. This means that some analysts have lower than consensus estimates and some have higher than consensus estimates.
One broker that believes Woodside will pay even larger dividends in both years is Citi.
Its analysts are currently forecasting fully franked dividends of $3.47 per share in FY 2023 and $3.38 per share in FY 2024.
This would mean very generous yields of 9.5% and 9.2%, respectively, over the next couple of years.
It is because of these potential payouts that the broker is recommending Woodside shares as a buy with a $38.50 price target. Last month, the broker commented:
Today WDS held its annual investor day having earlier this week provided production & capex guidance for CY23. WDS provided a prodn profile to 2027 for sanctioned projects as well as estimates for capex, operating cash flow and free cash flow on the same basis using forward curves for gas/oil. We've downgraded CY23/24 EPS by 23%/12% given latest guidance. We stay Buy rated given ongoing high dividend potential.
