Willis Investment Counsel Boosts Stock Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Willis Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 336,374 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 1,555 shares during the quarter. Shell makes up approximately 1.4% of Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Shell were worth $22,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shell in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shell in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shell in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Shell during the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank purchased a new position in Shell in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SHEL shares. Berenberg Bank upgraded Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Shell in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays raised Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Shell from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Shell from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.00.

Shell Price Performance

Shares of SHEL opened at $68.49 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.41. Shell plc has a one year low of $60.34 and a one year high of $74.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $69.58 and its 200-day moving average is $70.89.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.15. Shell had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 5.97%. The company had revenue of $75.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 8.44 EPS for the current year.

Shell Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.688 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.74%.

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.