Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Sold by PDS Planning Inc

PDS Planning Inc lowered its stake in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,489 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 1,445 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Shell were worth $532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Shell by 930.2% in the fourth 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 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SHEL has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wolfe Research raised Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

Shell Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of SHEL opened at $70.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $215.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $60.15 and a 52-week high of $74.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.19.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend yield of 4.04%. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.