Brandes Investment Partners LP Purchases 31,209 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,491,486 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 31,209 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Shell were worth $93,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in Shell by 930.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in Shell during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Shell during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Shell during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on SHEL shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group upgraded Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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, Wolfe Research upgraded Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.11.

Shell Stock Performance

NYSE SHEL opened at $68.78 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $66.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.35. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $60.15 and a fifty-two week high of $74.61.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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.