Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Short Interest Up 62.6% in March

Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,210,000 shares, an increase of 62.6% from the February 28th total of 5,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Shell in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of SHEL stock traded down $0.55 on Friday, reaching $72.74. The company had a trading volume of 6,538,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,169,071. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50-day moving average is $67.68 and its 200 day moving average is $66.42. Shell has a one year low of $60.15 and a one year high of $74.61.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. Equities research analysts forecast that Shell will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is 56.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Securities upped their target price on Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.10.

About Shell

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.