Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $91.72 Million in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,463,946 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,716,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SHEL. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Shell by 5.2% in the third 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Shell by 188.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,014,199 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $198,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,967,672 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Shell by 29.8% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,773,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $248,870,000 after purchasing an additional 866,954 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Shell by 2.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 507,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in Shell by 41.0% in the third quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 1,544,764 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $101,877,000 after purchasing an additional 449,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Shell stock opened at $66.80 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.38. 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. Shell plc has a twelve month low of $60.15 and a twelve month high of $74.61.

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 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%. Equities research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Shell’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on SHEL. Morgan Stanley raised Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.11.

About Shell

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.