Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA Decreases Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA cut its holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 35.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,964 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 2,214 shares during the period. Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA’s holdings in Shell were worth $259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SHEL. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Shell by 930.2% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Shell during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. 28.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SHEL. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE SHEL opened at $66.80 on Friday. 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 plc has a 12-month low of $60.15 and a 12-month high of $74.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.45.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. Research analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.716 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.97%.

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.