Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Bought by Ledyard National Bank

Ledyard National Bank boosted its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,696 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 558 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Shell were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 42.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,701 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after buying an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Shell by 2.0% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,165 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shell in the 3rd quarter valued at $121,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Shell by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,061 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 688 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 9.7% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 52,914 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $3,490,000 after buying an additional 4,660 shares in the last quarter. 28.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SHEL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Shell to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler lowered 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of SHEL opened at $65.87 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $60.15 and a 12 month high of $74.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.27 and its 200-day moving average is $67.17. The firm has a market cap of $201.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 0.54.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last released its quarterly 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%. Equities analysts expect that Shell plc will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.716 per share. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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.