Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Acquired by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,651 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,563 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $1,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summitry LLC boosted its holdings in Shell by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 8,264 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 1,179 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shell by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,410 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd purchased a new position in Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,945,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Shell during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Forefront Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter valued at $2,255,000. 28.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL opened at $73.35 on Friday. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced 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, sell-side analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid 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 dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is currently 56.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on SHEL. Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Shell in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.10.

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.