Sit Investment Associates Inc. Sells 11,392 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. trimmed its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,853 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 11,392 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $8,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Shell by 930.2% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in Shell during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Shell in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Shell by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 600 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $64.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $193.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.27. Shell plc has a 12 month low of $60.15 and a 12 month high of $74.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.53. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. Shell’s payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on SHEL. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Shell in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shell has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.