How to buy Santos shares

Santos Limited is an oil & gas e&p business based in Australia. Santos shares (STO) are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and all prices are listed in Australian Dollars. Santos has a trailing 12-month revenue of around $3.7 billion.

How to buy shares in Santos

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares listed in Australia, you'll need to sign up to a broker with access to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Our table below can help you choose.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, PayPal or debit card.
3. Search for Santos. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: STO. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Santos reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At today's price of $N/A, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Santos. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Santos share price

Use our graph to track the performance of STO stocks over time.

Santos shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-09-25.

52-week range	AUDA$2.73 - AUDA$9.07
50-day moving average	AUDA$5.4731
200-day moving average	AUDA$5.004
Target price	AUDA$5.04
PE ratio	11.3488
Dividend yield	AUDA$0.06 (1.14%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	AUDA$0.321

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Important: Share trading carries risk of capital loss.

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy Santos stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Santos Limited by TradingView

Is Santos under- or over-valued?

Valuing Santos stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Santos's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Santos's P/E ratio

Santos's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 11x. In other words, Santos shares trade at around 11x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the P/E ratio for the ASX over the 12 months to December 2019 (32.14). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Santos's PEG ratio

Santos's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 0.35. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Santos's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Santos's EBITDA

Santos's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is $2 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Santos's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Santos financials

Revenue TTM	$3.7 billion
Operating margin TTM	22.27%
Gross profit TTM	$1.3 billion
Return on assets TTM	2.99%
Return on equity TTM	-0.04%
Profit margin	-0.08%
Book value	3.503
Market capitalisation	$10.7 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Santos's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Santos.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Santos's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 45.35

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Santos's overall score of 45.35 (as at 07/31/2020) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 89th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Santos is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Santos's environmental score

Environmental score: 25.24/100

Santos's environmental score of 25.24 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Santos is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Santos's social score

Social score: 16.87/100

Santos's social score of 16.87 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Santos is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Santos's governance score

Governance score: 15.75/100

Santos's governance score puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Santos is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Santos's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Santos scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Santos has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Santos Limited was last rated for ESG on: 2020-08-01.

Total ESG score	45.35
Total ESG percentile	89.18
Environmental score	25.24
Environmental score percentile	9
Social score	16.87
Social score percentile	9
Governance score	15.75
Governance score percentile	9
Level of controversy	2

Santos share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 38.12% of net profits

Recently Santos has paid out, on average, around 38.12% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 1.14% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Santos shareholders could enjoy a 1.14% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Santos's case, that would currently equate to about A$0.06 per share.

While Santos's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Santos may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 24 August 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Santos's shares ever split?

Santos's shares were split on 12 March 2009.

Santos share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Santos's shares have ranged in value from as little as $2.73 up to $9.07. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (AU average) beta is 1, while Santos's is 2.356. This would suggest that Santos's shares are significantly more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent a higher risk.

Santos overview

Santos Limited explores for, develops, produces, transports, and markets hydrocarbons for homes and businesses in Australia and Asia. Its five principal assets are located in the Cooper Basin, Queensland & NSW, Papua New Guinea, Northern Australia & Timor-Leste, and Western Australia. The company produces natural gas, such as liquefied petroleum gas, ethane, methane, coal seam gas, liquefied natural gas, shale gas, and condensate, as well as oil. Its proved plus probable reserves include 1,022 million barrels of oil equivalent. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Adelaide, Australia.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Santos is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 15.209% of Santos shares are held by insiders and 21.365% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Santos?

  Santos's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Santos based?

  Santos's address is: Santos Centre, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 5000

• What is Santos's ISIN number?

  Santos's international securities identification number is: AU000000STO6