Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Trims Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 189,770 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 253 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Shell were worth $11,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Shell by 930.2% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHEL has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of Shell stock opened at $70.11 on Tuesday. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61. The company has a market cap of $213.21 billion, a PE ratio of 13.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.19.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal 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 a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. Shell’s payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

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.