Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 26.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,447 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,826 shares during the quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SHEL. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock 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 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shell presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.11.

Shell Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of SHEL stock opened at $66.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $202.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. Shell plc has a twelve month low of $60.15 and a twelve month high of $74.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $65.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is 56.97%.

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.