Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 5,505 Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Howard Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,505 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHEL. Aveo Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Shell by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,376 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 896 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp raised its holdings in Shell by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 14,245 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $937,000 after acquiring an additional 2,704 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Shell by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,683 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 4,232 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Shell by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 4,310 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Shell by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,706 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $6,495,000 after buying an additional 26,729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on SHEL. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Shell to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Shell from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on Shell from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shell has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.00.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL stock opened at $66.91 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $211.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.29. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $60.34 and a 1 year high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $75.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.62 billion. Shell had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 5.97%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 8.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.688 dividend. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.74%.

Shell 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.