Sei Investments Co. Cuts Position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Sei Investments Co. reduced its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 28.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 206,925 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 82,725 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Shell were worth $12,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in 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. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Shell in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Shell during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL opened at $72.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $219.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Shell plc has a 1 year low of $60.15 and a 1 year high of $74.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.41.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.57%. Sell-side analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. 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%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several 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 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.