Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) Shares Acquired by First Wilshire Securities Management Inc.

First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. boosted its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,518 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 153 shares during the quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc.’s holdings in Shell were worth $596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter worth $1,486,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in Shell by 95.9% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 164,700 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,318,000 after acquiring an additional 80,641 shares during the period. May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new position in Shell in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $418,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,094,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Shell by 236.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 445,422 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,906,000 after purchasing an additional 313,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SHEL has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Shell from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their target price on Shell from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.10.

Shell Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SHEL opened at $73.08 on Wednesday. Shell plc has a 52-week low of $60.15 and a 52-week high of $74.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a PEG 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.50.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.54). Shell had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 12.75%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Shell plc will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shell Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.716 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. This is a boost from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Shell’s payout ratio is presently 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.