Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 368,016 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 79,038 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $23,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Shell by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,545 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in Shell by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 33,168 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,078,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shell by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 29,560 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,852,000 after buying an additional 4,028 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Shell by 1.5% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,125,284 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $206,116,000 after buying an additional 46,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its position in Shell by 266.1% during the fourth quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 122,030 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $7,645,000 after acquiring an additional 88,700 shares during the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shell Stock Up 1.5 %

Shell stock opened at $68.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $66.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.21. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61. The company has a market capitalization of $209.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. Research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SHEL shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shell currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.11.

Shell Company Profile

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure to deliver gas to market.