Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 277,360 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 2,106 shares during the quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Shell were worth $17,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shell by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 65,298,943 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,306,465,000 after buying an additional 3,255,347 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Shell by 2.1% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,530,647 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,617,796,000 after acquiring an additional 507,311 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Shell by 0.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,972,945 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $408,430,000 after acquiring an additional 55,637 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Shell by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,282,868 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,405,000 after purchasing an additional 422,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in Shell by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $248,870,000 after purchasing an additional 866,954 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Price Performance

SHEL stock opened at $67.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.70. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $60.15 and a 52-week high of $74.61. The company has a market capitalization of $204.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. 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 (NYSE:SHEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts predict that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.716 dividend. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. This is an increase from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SHEL shares. UBS Group raised shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. One research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.11.

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.