Sabal Trust CO Sells 247 Shares of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)

Sabal Trust CO lowered its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,051 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 247 shares during the quarter. Sabal Trust CO’s holdings in Shell were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Shell by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,355 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. DMKC Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Shell during the fourth quarter worth about $1,899,000. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Shell by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 17,001 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Shell by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 1,214,321 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $76,077,000 after acquiring an additional 14,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Shell by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 590,728 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $37,009,000 after acquiring an additional 68,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.60% of the company’s stock.

Shell Stock Up 0.9 %

SHEL opened at $67.49 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.70. Shell plc has a 1-year low of $60.15 and a 1-year high of $74.61. The stock has a market cap of $205.24 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last posted its 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%. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.716 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. This is a positive change from Shell’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Shell’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Shell from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Shell from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.50 to $79.80 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Shell from $82.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Shell has a consensus 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.